Republicans May Have Sabotaged Their Best Chance to Beat Gretchen Whitmer
The GOPs efforts to unseat Michigans Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, ran into some trouble on Tuesday when the states elections bureau determined that five of the ten Republican candidates had faked the signatures necessary for them to appear on the ballot. Because of the bogus ink, half of the field could now be ineligible for the August 2 primary.
There was quite a bit of fraud, according to the Michigan Bureau of Elections. Some compromised petition sheets consisted entirely of invalid signatures. Others showed evidence of being round-tabled, the process in which a group of people takes turns signing names so the same handwriting isnt repeated line after line. A few showed no evidence of normal wear and misspellings of voters names, suggesting that whoever botched the job didnt really put their full effort into trying to defraud the Wolverine State. In total, for the governors race and other down-ballot contests, an estimated 68,000 invalid signatures were submitted.
The affected Republicans included former Detroit police chief James Craig and businessman Perry Johnson, who are considered front-runners in the crowded primary. The report found that Craig submitted over 11,000 invalid signatures and Johnson submitted over 9,300 invalid signatures; with the forgeries cut out, both failed to reach the required 15,000 signatures to appear on the ballot. The Michigan Board of State Canvassers will meet on Thursday to review the elections bureaus report and determine if the un-fab five will be in the primary.
Read more: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/05/its-fraud-time-in-republican-primary-for-michigan-governor.html