Politics

Michigan Supreme Court blocks five GOP gubernatorial candidates from ballot over falsified signatures

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Five candidates for governor of Michigan have been blocked from appearing on the August ballot for the state primary election, with one receiving no ruling from the state’s high court.

The candidates were blocked due to what the court said was a failure to garner enough petition signatures to run, mostly due to petition fraud by paid petition circulators. The fifth candidate under review received a “no ruling” verdict, which would also leave her name off the August ballot.

Detroit police chief James Craig, businesswoman Tudor Dixon, businessman Perry Johnson, and financial expert Michael Markey will all be left off the August primary ballot based on this week’s ruling. A fifth candidate, Donna Brandenburg, was the candidate who received no ruling and as such will not be on the primary ballot.

In Johnson’s ruling, Chief Justice Bridget McCormack said, “I concur with denying leave to appeal because there is nothing here meriting our further time or attention. The plaintiff’s mandamus action plainly lacks merit because he cannot show that the Board of State Canvassers had a clear legal duty to certify his name to the ballot.”

“The circulators here committed fraud. They used the names of people who either weren’t registered, or they were registered, and they forged their signatures. This was not a mistake. These circulators knew they were doing this. They did this deliberately,” said Michigan director of elections Jonathan Brater at a meeting last month. 

Another candidate, Michael Brown was also disqualified from the ballot due to fraudulent signatures but withdrew from the race voluntarily. 

ARTICLE: LAURA SPIVAK 

MANAGING EDITOR: CARSON CHOATE

PHOTO CREDITS: DETROIT NEWS

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Laura Spivak

Laura is a freelance writer out of Maryland and a mom of three. Her background is in political science and international relations, and she has been doing political writing and editing for 17 years. Laura has also written parenting pieces for the Today Show and is currently working on writing a collection of remarkable true stories about normal people. She writes for FBA because unbiased news is vital to unity, and readers deserve the facts free of opinion.

Laura is a freelance writer out of Maryland and a mom of three. Her background is in political science and international relations, and she has been doing political writing and editing for 17 years. Laura has also written parenting pieces for the Today Show and is currently working on writing a collection of remarkable true stories about normal people. She writes for FBA because unbiased news is vital to unity, and readers deserve the facts free of opinion.

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