The Michigan Board of State Canvassers voted 4-0 Friday to accept a staff report that found that three Republican candidates for a vacant U.S. Senate seat, including the presumptive front-runner, have enough valid signatures on the nomination petitions to reach the August 6 primaries. vote.
The Democratic groups had argued, in a letter sent two weeks ago to the board and after the challenge deadline expired, that they found a pattern of irregularity on the petition forms that suggested possible fraud.
Those groups — the state Democratic Party and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in Washington — had called for a review of signature sheets submitted by former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers of Brighton, who is seen as the presumptive front-runner for the GOP nomination. , as well as former U.S. Rep. Justin Amash of Cascade Township and Grosse Pointe businessman Sandy Pensler. The groups had also questioned sheets filed by former U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer of Grand Rapids Township, even though he dropped out of the race.
Last week, state Elections Department staff issued a report saying that their random sampling of petition signatures submitted by those campaigns clearly indicated that each had enough valid signatures to make the ballot and that a “separate review of the sheets (petition) that clearly showed the signs of fraud were irrelevant.” That report recommended that the board, made up of two Democrats and two Republicans, allow candidates to advance based on that sampling.
An attorney for the Democratic groups, Chris Trebilcock, argued that the board should set aside the staff report and demand a more thorough review, suggesting that the random sample may have missed forged signatures and other issues. “This board has a duty and should investigate those things,” he said.
An attorney for Rogers’ campaign, Eric Doster, dismissed that argument, saying there was no indication the campaign had not submitted enough valid signatures, calling it a “public relations stunt” orchestrated by Democratic allies of U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin. from Holly. who is the presumptive favorite for that party’s nomination to the United States Senate.
The board’s Democratic chairwoman, Mary Ellen Gurewitz, said the board needed to be mindful of maintaining a firm deadline for challenges to be filed so that staff could review them in a timely manner and consistent with its previous decision to use a random sampling that statistically predicts the number. of false and valid signatures submitted on nomination petitions filed by candidates at the state level.
“After much research, contemplation and discussion, we decided to survey those requests using random sampling,” he said. “We are confident that there are a sufficient number of valid signatures.”
One candidate in the U.S. Senate race was disqualified from the vote on a technicality: Dearborn businessman Nasser Beydoun, who has been running for the Democratic nomination. Staff discovered that all of his petition signature sheets included a post office box as his campaign address when the law requires a mailing address.
The board voted 4-0 to uphold the report, even after Beydoun argued that the statute and signature forms were ambiguous and said he had wanted to use a post office box to protect his family. Several board members said they were sympathetic to her argument but were bound by the exact language of the statute.
Beydoun said he plans to challenge the finding in court.
Slotkin faces Detroit actor Hill Harper in the Aug. 6 Democratic primary for the vacant U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow. Another Republican, Dr. Sherry O’Donnell of Western Michigan, is running against Rogers, Amash and Pensler in the Republican primary on the same day.
Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler.
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