Fraudulent Nominating Petitions Lead to Disqualification of Five Republican Candidates for Governor
State of Michigan Bureau of Elections: "Staff Report on Fraudulent Nominating Petitions" (May 23, 2022) [PDF]
Perry Johnson for Governor
May 23, 2022
BREAKING: PERRY JOHNSON ANNOUNCES PLAN TO BRING QUALITY REFORMS TO PETITION PROCESS FOR CANDIDATES RUNNING FOR OFFICE
Perry Johnson has released a major plan to reform the petition process for candidates running for public office in Michigan.“Michigan’s petition process is fatally flawed because it easily allows criminals to victimize candidates for public office and their thousands of supporters who legitimately sign petitions,” Johnson said in a statement on Monday. “We must bring quality to the petition process by allowing campaigns a mechanism to compare signatures that are gathered by circulators with signatures on the Qualified Voter File to ensure their legitimacy.”
Johnson says the current process emboldens criminals, and needs to be changed.
“Criminals are able to defraud campaigns and their thousands of supporters by submitting signatures of questionable legitimacy to be included with legitimate signatures,” Johnson said. “Criminals can commit fraud for money or by purposely infiltrating a victimized campaign with illegitimate signatures in a machiavellian attempt by the opposing party to later have them removed from the ballot. Unfortunately, the signatures provided to campaigns cannot currently be checked until after their submission to the Secretary of State. This needs to change, immediately.”
Johnson compared the issues with the petition process to problems the American auto industry faced in the 80’s.
“The problems facing Michigan’s petition process have similarities with the problems we encountered in the automotive industry in the 1980’s,” Johnson said. “They were checking quality at the end of the assembly line rather than in the beginning. Therefore, they were throwing out products after the car was built rather than fixing the quality in real-time prior to building the car. We implemented statistical process control to bring quality to the front end of the process and that dramatically improved manufacturing quality across the country.”
Johnson says his plan protects voters.
“This Plan for a Quality Petition Process will secure the rights of voters to ensure their signature counts, and they are not victimized by criminals who attempt to defraud voters and the candidates they support,” Johnson said.
Read Perry Johnson’s Full Plan To Bring Quality To The Petition Process:
Signature Verification Services: While it is generally possible to verify if a person is
registered to vote and therefore qualified to sign a petition, it is not possible to verify the
validity of a signature before a campaign turns that signature in at the end of the
process. This is because campaigns do not have access to the signature file in the
Qualified Voter File prior to the formal submission of signatures. The Secretary of State
should, for a reasonable fee, offer a signature verification service to more quickly root
out crooks seeking to defraud candidates and their supporters.
Severe Penalties and Enforcement for Fraud, Ability to Rectify: Circulators should
be held accountable for fraud in the signatures they collect. Penalties should be severe,
and in cases where circulators defraud a candidate and legitimate signers that
candidate should be able to rectify the fraud committed against them. The Secretary of
State or Board of Canvassers should be given 72 hours to refer a matter to the Attorney
General for investigation, and then the victimized campaign should be given one week
to submit replacements for those signatures called into question.
Make it a Felony to Intimidate Petition Signers: It is currently against the law at the
Federal level to use Federal Election Commission donation data for fundraising by other
candidates. The public disclosure of the donor information is not legally used by other
campaigns. Michigan should enact state law to protect petition signers so that they are
not intimidated by individuals, organizations, and attorneys after signing a petition.
Licensing, Insurance and Bonding: Firms that hire petition circulators should be
licensed by the state with associated insurance and bonding to minimize the potential
for criminals to enter the petition business.
Time Limits on Challenges as to the Form of the Petition: Petition forms that are
reviewed and approved by the Board of Canvassers should only be challengeable for
up to 14 days from the time that the board approves the form. It is not fair to citizens
circulating or signing petitions that special interest groups can wait until after signature
collection to exploit an alleged problem with the form of the petition.
The Burden of Proof Should Fall on the Challenger who is Trying to Limit the
Choices of Michiganders: Today, special interest groups can lodge broad and vague
challenges that cast doubt without proof. This places a burden of investigation, time,
and costs to the citizens who gathered those signatures and the Board of Canvassers
who are asked to sort it all out. When special interest groups challenge the validity of
signatures on a petition, they should be required to provide specificity of which
signatures are allegedly ineligible and present that proof, signature by signature, with an
opportunity for the campaign to defend those signatures one at a time.
Losers Cover the Costs: Special interest groups today can cost their opponents time
and money, without any consequence, even when their challenges are frivolous.
Challengers should be required to cover the costs of both the state and the candidate
committee or ballot committee who was forced to defend against the frivolous
challenges.
Perry Johnson is a full-spectrum conservative: a social conservative, a fiscal conservative, and an “America First” conservative.
Read more about Perry’s conservative views HERE.
Perry Johnson, the “Quality Guru” and Constitutionally Conservative, Trump Republican who helped revolutionize America’s auto industry in the 80’s, has turned the Michigan Governor’s race upside down since the launch of his campaign earlier this year.
Michigan Republican Party
May 26, 2022
MIGOP Chairman Releases Statement On Today's Ruling From The State Board of Canvassers
May 26 2022 LANSING, MICH – Michigan Republican Party Chairman Ron Weiser released a statement following the ruling from the state Board of Canvassers on Thursday:“We’re going to continue to closely monitor the situation from here on out as campaigns continue through their challenging process,” said Ambassador Ron Weiser, MIGOP Chairman. “The way this bureau deviated from its historical practice is unprecedented and I think the arguments laid out by the challengers should have their time in court. This is about fighting against voter disenfranchisement and for choice at the ballot box.”
Chief
James Craig for Governor
For Immediate Release: May 26, 2022
For Immediate Release: May 26, 2022
CHIEF CRAIG VOWS TO KEEP FIGHTING, REJECTS DECISION FROM THE BOARD OF CANVASSERS
DETROIT - "We are disappointed in the
Board of Canvassers decision, but we are not surprised
the partisan Democrats on the committee ruled against
Michigan voters. It is a travesty that partisans in a
position to uphold democracy and the will of the people
allowed politics to get in the way.
It was clear during the testimony today that the BOE staff did not perform its legal obligation to reject signatures on a line-by-line basis against the Qualified Voter File. Rather, they rejected whole pages based on their own determination of fraud. In addition to the BOE not performing it's duties according to Michigan law, the BOE chose to withhold the suspicion of fraud from the campaign's until two days before their public hearing. In fact, the BOE released their reports to the media before the campaigns; with many campaigns learning about the fraud from social media before being duly notified. Because of this, we will be filing an immediate appeal in the courts.
We are confident that when the law is justly applied, our campaign will be on the ballot this August," said Chief James Craig.
It was clear during the testimony today that the BOE staff did not perform its legal obligation to reject signatures on a line-by-line basis against the Qualified Voter File. Rather, they rejected whole pages based on their own determination of fraud. In addition to the BOE not performing it's duties according to Michigan law, the BOE chose to withhold the suspicion of fraud from the campaign's until two days before their public hearing. In fact, the BOE released their reports to the media before the campaigns; with many campaigns learning about the fraud from social media before being duly notified. Because of this, we will be filing an immediate appeal in the courts.
We are confident that when the law is justly applied, our campaign will be on the ballot this August," said Chief James Craig.
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For Immediate Release June 2, 2022
CHIEF JAMES CRAIG IS DISAPPOINTED WITH COURT OF CLAIMS DECISION. WILL CONTINUE HIS FIGHT TO THE STATE SUPREME COURT
DETROIT - Chief James Craig rejects the Court of Claims ruling to uphold the Board of Canvassers partisan decision to bar him from the August primary ballot. Will immediately seek to reverse the Claims Court ruling in the Michigan State Supreme Court."I am very disappointed with the Court of Claims' decision. I am also discouraged by their complete disregard to the law and case precedent. It is clearly stated that the Bureau of Elections must go line by line in order invalidate a signature. This was not done; admittedly by the BOE during their testimony before the Board of Canvassers. We will continue to fight for our campaign to be on the August primary ballot as a Republican candidate for Governor. The voters should be deciding who their candidates are, not an unelected board of government bureaucrats. Rest assured, we will be appealing this questionable decision to a higher court. Our fight is not over," said Chief Craig.
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