The Michigan Court of Appeals upheld previous decisions to keep several Republican primary candidates for governor off the ballot due to invalid petition signatures.
Two of the candidates filed lawsuits after the state’s Board of Canvassers, which comprises two Republicans and two Democrats, deadlocked last week, sustaining the Michigan Bureau of Elections’s previous decision to remove five candidates from the ballot for invalid signatures. Appeals from businessman Perry Johnson and financial adviser Michael Markey were rejected on Wednesday, and former Detroit Police Chief James Craig’s appeal was rejected Thursday morning.
INVALID SIGNATURES COULD THIN GOP FIELD IN MICHIGAN GUBERNATORIAL RACE
“We are disappointed by today’s decision, but there is so much at stake here that we cannot afford to sit down and let this miscarriage of justice stand,” Markey said in a statement. “This clearly needs to be reviewed by the Supreme Court, because the Michigan Court of Appeals just decided that the Secretary of State can be an unchecked body of government serving as judge, jury, and executioner in deciding who gets to be on the ballot.”
? To be clear, we’re saying that the @MichSoS has unilateral and unchecked discretion to remove any candidate off the ballot with no burden of proof required?
This is a serious blow to election integrity.
I’m taking this to the Supreme Court. Read my full Press Release below. pic.twitter.com/vgOlBYMt71
— Michael Markey, Jr (@michaelmarkeyjr) June 1, 2022
Craig also expressed disappointment in the ruling, saying in a statement he was “discouraged by their complete disregard to the law and case precedent.” He also said his campaign would appeal the decision.
In Michigan, candidates need 15,000 signatures to enter the governor’s race. The oversight agencies found nearly 10,000 invalid signatures in Johnson’s case and enough in the other two cases to disqualify the candidates. The crowded field of candidates vying for a chance to take down Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has now thinned to six candidates, including Tudor Dixon, who was endorsed by the DeVos family, who are Michigan natives.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Only two months remain before the Aug. 2 primary, and election officials will start developing absentee ballots soon, meaning the ballot needs to be finalized quickly.
Election integrity is already a touchy subject in Michigan, where Detroit was a target of former President Donald Trump’s accusations of voter fraud that he claims cost him the 2020 presidential election.
