Michigan Democrats are calling for a state elections investigation into signatures written on GOP Senate candidates' petitions to determine if any were forged or fraudulent in a move one campaign said is aimed to eliminate Republicans from the ticket altogether.
Attorneys for the Michigan Democratic Party and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, in a letter Friday to the Michigan State Board of State Canvassers, asked that the nominating petitions submitted by candidates Mike Rogers, Sandy Pensler, and Justin Amash, as well as those for Peter Meijer, who has dropped out of the race, be investigated.
In it, lawyers for the party claim they have evidence of the same kind that resulted in the disqualification of gubernatorial candidates in the 2022 race, reports the Detroit Free Press, which obtained the document.
The letter claimed the petitions contained "patterns that indicate the presence of potential forgery and other fraudulent signature-gathering tactics."
Stu Sandler, a spokesman for Pensler slammed the request.
"Democrats can't beat Republicans at the ballot box so it looks like they're trying to eliminate Republicans from the ballot," he said.
Sandler also said that Pensler, a businessman, has submitted more than 26,000 signatures and "clearly qualifies for the ballot, which is why no timely challenge was filed."
The deadline to challenge signatures was at the end of April.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Rogers, whom former President Donald Trump has endorsed, called the letter an "antidemocratic stunt" from allies of U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who is the Democrats' front-runner for the Senate nomination.
In their letter, the Democrats claim:
- Entire petition sheets had signatures from different signers, appearing to be in the same handwriting.
- Sheets purporting to be signed by the same circulator had different handwriting used for her signature and contained mistakes in her address and ZIP code.
- Duplicate voter signatures were found in nominating petition sheets purporting to be from the same voter but appearing to be in different handwriting.
- The same voter signed for different candidates and used different handwriting.
If any candidates are found to have fewer than 15,000 valid signatures on their petitions, they could lose their spots on the Aug. 6 primary ballot for the GOP nomination for the Senate seat being vacated by outgoing Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.
Only west Michigan physician Sherry O'Donnell's name was left off the signature challenge letter. She is the least-known GOP candidate, The Free Press noted.
"The apparent fraud uncovered demands an immediate investigation," Michigan Democratic Party Chairwoman Lavora Barnes said in a statement, adding that the state Bureau of Elections and the canvassing board "should uphold their responsibility to protect the integrity of Michigan's elections and conduct a full, thorough examination."
The Democrats claim that as many as 433 pages of signatures collected from random samples involve more than 20 petition gatherers who are part of other challenges filed in Michigan.