Petitions filed by three different GOP candidates for governor in the Michigan election are being challenged by Democrats due to fraudulent signatures and other irregularities.
Those hoping to run for Michigan governor in the 2022 election are required to submit petitions with at least 15,000 signatures from registered Michigan voters. There are 10 GOP candidates.
Complaints Against James Craig
Petition circulators for candidate and former Detroit police chief James Craig are being accused of forging thousands of signatures in a process using a small group of individuals names, addresses and fake signatures across several petition sheets using a list of real voters.
The complaint alleges at least eight of Craig’s circulators forged 6,933 signatures across 710 petition sheets. All of these signatures are being challenged. Hundreds of other signatures are being challenged because they are incomplete or inaccurate, duplicates or signed by deceased voters. At least 30 of the signatures are allegedly from dead voters.
There were also incorrect county names, defective certifications of circulators, incorrect dates, and an incorrect “term expiration date” of 2026 instead of 2027.
In all, 9,600 of Craig’s signatures of the 15,000 necessary are being challenged.
Complaints Against Tudor Dixon
The petition for Tudor Dixon included an inaccurate term end date at the top of petition forms, saying the end term was 2026 instead of January 1, 2027. Petitions are reportedly not required to even include the date of the term’s end, but because these petitions did include it, they are not allowed to be inaccurate.
One of the circulators for James Craig also was a circulator for Dixon. Due to the challenge against Craig and other “similar indications of similar handwriting on multiple entries and other visual indicators of potential forgeries,” challengers are requesting that any signatures collected by this particular circulator also be challenged. There are also 25 signatures from deceased voters.
Complaints Against Perry Johnson
This complaint also alleges at least 66 signatures are from deceased voters, and asks the Board of State Canvassers to investigate if the “inclusion of these dead individuals is an indication of more comprehensive fraud.” As with Dixon’s campaign, six of the eight circulators also worked on Craig’s campaign, and are challenging 343 of Johnson’s petition sheets for this reason.
Hundreds of signatures were cited for being duplicates, not matching signatures on file, having address or jurisdiction errors, date errors and more.
A specific case of forgery was also listed in the complaint. According to challengers, the signature of a Royal Oak woman was included on a petition sheet, when the woman says she never signed any such petition for a Republican candidate hopeful. A sworn statement signed by the woman was included in the complaint. Challengers argue that any signatures connected to the circulator that approved the Royal Oak woman’s signature should be investigated.
The Michigan Republican Party (Meshawn Maddock, co-chair) says the challenges made against the submitted petitions are “desperate.”
