Several of Michigan’s Republican Senate candidates could soon be under state investigation for alleged ballot petition forgery and fraud.
The complaint to the Michigan Board of State Canvassers follows “an initial and limited review” of the petitions and specifically names four candidates: Former U.S. Reps. Mike Rogers of Brighton, Justin Amash of Cascade Township and Peter Meijer of Grand Rapids Township as well as Grosse Pointe businessman Sandy Pensler. Meijer withdrew from the race in late April.
“The apparent fraud uncovered demands an immediate investigation of the Republican Senate candidates’ nominating petitions,” said Lavora Barnes, Michigan Democratic Party chair.
The complaint alleges:
- “Clear, full page circulator fraud with evidence that all lines of the petition were filled out by the same person.
- Voters’ names appearing across multiple candidates’ petitions in different handwriting with errors in addresses and spelling.
- Voters’ names appearing within a single candidate’s petition more than once, in different handwriting with errors in addresses and spelling.
- Evidence of a “round-robin” scheme, which refers to instances of signature gatherers for different campaigns taking turns signing candidates’ petitions from names on a voter list.
- Visible circulator handwriting and signature mismatches.”
Republican petition fraud has become a massive problem in Michigan. In 2022, five Republican gubernatorial candidates were disqualified from the ballot due to petition fraud. Democrats provided 29 pages of evidence and documents to support their allegations of fraud.
If the Republicans were removed from the Senate primary ballot, it would cause chaos that would help Democrats keep the seat of retiring Sen. Debbie Stabenow. Democrats are likely to keep the seat anyway, but with the state Republican Party already being broke and in disarray, the last thing that they need is to have a swath of their Senate candidates disqualified before the August primary.
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