James Craig (left), Perry Johnson.Photo: Aaron J. Thornton/Getty; Facebook
Among those disqualified were former Detroit Police Chief James Craig and businessman Perry Johnson, who had been considered among the top candidates for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in November.
According to the Michigan Bureau of Elections, the campaigns for Craig, Johnson and three others running in the Republican primary had “submitted fraudulent petition sheets consisting entirely of invalid signatures.”
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Bureau staff said it began reviewing candidates' nominating petitions at the end of March and noticed a large number of petition sheets “appeared fraudulent.”
The Bureau’s findings included “an unusually large number of petition sheets that showed no evidence of normal wear that accompanies circulation,” “sheets on which every instance of the handwriting of certain letters across different signature lines and sheets, including in the signatures themselves, was near-identical,” and “sets of sheets where the two or three distinct handwriting styles appeared on multiple sheets.”
According to the report, many of those findings indicated that the petition sheets had been “round-tabled,” a practice in which a fraudulent signature gathering firms will use a group of individuals to pass around the sheets, with each person signing one line on each sheet, “in an attempt to make handwriting and signatures appear authentic and received from actual voters.”
Perry Johnson.Facebook
Now, Craig, Johnson and another candidate — Michael Markey — have filed lawsuits in a last-ditch effort to get back on the Aug. 2 ballot,ABC12 News reports.
An attorney for Craig chalked the allegedly fraudulent signatures up to “the potential efforts of a group of circulators to defraud the campaign,” but said in his complaint filed with the Michigan Bureau of Elections, “it is our belief that the petition remains valid,“Detroit Newsreports.
“We strongly believe they are refusing to count thousands of signatures from legitimate voters who signed the petitions and look forward to winning this fight before the Board, and if necessary, in the courts,” the consultant added.
Melissa Carone,who went viral for her supporting roleinDonald Trump’s attempts to have votes overturned in the2020 presidential election, was among those disqualified.
Carone allegedly had made false statements on a required affidavit submitted to election officials. On one of the forms Carone signed, she indicated that she didn’t have any unpaid fines and that her campaign filings were all current,The New York Timesreports, but Carone allegedly owed at least $125 in late fees for missing campaign filing deadlines.
“This is how our elected officials keep good candidates from getting elected,” Carone told theTimesin an interview earlier this month. “I’m going to fight it. Even if I don’t end up on the ballot, my voice will be heard. I’m not going anywhere.”
source: people.com
