Michigan Dems urge probe of alleged signature fraud by GOP Senate hopefuls. GOP fires back

Washington — Michigan Democrats are alleging fraudulent signatures and calling for an investigation into the nominating petitions for Republican U.S. Senate candidates, according to a complaint filed Friday.

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.

Complaints like the Democratic Party's have become commonplace in recent years, in many instances leading to the removal of Democratic and Republican candidates from the ballot. If this latest complaint is substantiated, it could upend a crowded GOP primary Senate contest set for August.

The Board of State Canvassers is comprised of two Republicans and two Democrats. As of May 2, 30 candidates across the state were facing official challenges to their candidacy, according to the Michigan Bureau of Elections.

Two of the Republican campaigns, reached for comment by The Detroit News, accused the Democrats of playing politics.

"Democrats can’t beat Republicans at the ballot box, so it looks like they are trying to eliminate Republicans from the ballot. Sandy Pensler turned in over 26,000 signatures. He clearly qualifies for the ballot which is why no timely challenge was filed,” said Stu Sandler, a spokesperson for Pensler, a Grosse Pointe Park businessman seeking the GOP nomination.

"This antidemocratic stunt perpetuated by Slotkin’s allies failed and won’t cover for the misery the Biden-Slotkin agenda has inflicted on Michigan working families," said Chris Gustafson, communications director for the Rogers campaign, referring to Democratic U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Holly, who is considered the frontrunner in the Democratic Senate primary.

The complaint, filed by the Elias Law Group, alleged "at least five" markers of fraudulent signatures by the GOP candidates:

• "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."

The Democratic Party explained why Meijer was named in the complaint even though he dropped out of the race.

"Although Mr. Meijer has suspended his campaign, we believe the Board should know the full extent of potential fraud across these four candidates’ nominating petitions," the complaint said. 

"We strongly believe that any individual who violated the law should be held accountable," said Scott Greenlee, a senior adviser to Meijer's campaign.

"Thanks to our team’s due diligence, including pulling suspect sheets and reporting to authorities potential irregularities during the signature gathering process, the number of alleged irregularities amount to less than 1% of the petition signatures submitted. We remain grateful for the hard work of our supporters and partners that let us turn in over 50 percent more validated signatures than needed to qualify for the ballot."

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the party's organization dedicated to promoting Democratic U.S. Senate campaigns, called out Michigan Republicans for fraud resulting in past ballot removals.

"There is a well-documented history of significant fraudulent signatures on Republican nominating petitions in Michigan. In the 2022 election cycle, five gubernatorial candidates and three judicial candidates were not certified to appear on the ballot due to fraudulent signatures," the committee said in a press release.

Look back:James Craig, Perry Johnson, 3 others ineligible for ballot, Bureau of Elections says (2022)

On the Democratic side, elections staff at the Wayne County Clerk’s Office determined Thursday that Democratic U.S. House candidate Adam Hollier of Detroit did not have enough valid voter signatures to qualify for the ballot in the 13th Congressional District. That came after first-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar of Detroit, challenged the signatures Hollier's campaign collected.

The county staff recommendation isn't final, as an official determination hasn't yet been made by Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett on the sufficiency of Hollier's petition.

gschwab@detroitnews.com

@GrantSchwab