NEW: Apparent Fraud “Threatens to Disrupt” Senate Race After MDP and DSCC “Request Investigation into GOP U.S. Senate Candidate Petitions”

RELEASE – NEW: Apparent Fraud “Threatens to Disrupt” Senate Race After MDP and DSCC “Request Investigation into GOP U.S. Senate Candidate Petitions”

LANSING — Today, the Michigan Democratic Party, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), and a Michigan voter submitted a request for an investigation to the Michigan Board of State Canvassers detailing indications of fraud in Republican Senate candidates’ nominating petitions discovered in only a limited review.

The letter requests the Board of State Canvassers immediately investigate Republican Senate candidates’ nominating petitions. The Board should not certify these candidates for the ballot until it has conclusively determined that they have each submitted 15,000 valid signatures. Only an initial and limited review of the Republican Senate candidates’ petitions has already demonstrated at least five indications of fraudulent signatures.

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Detroit News: Michigan Democrats allege signature fraud by GOP Senate candidates, call for investigation

• Michigan Democrats are alleging fraudulent signatures and calling for an investigation into the nominating petitions for Republican U.S. Senate candidates, according to a complaint filed Friday.
• The complaint to the Michigan Board of State Canvassers follows “an initial and limited review” of the petitions and specifically names four candidates: Former U.S. Reps. Mike Rogers of Brighton, Justin Amash of Cascade Township and Peter Meijer of Grand Rapids Township as well as Grosse Pointe businessman Sandy Pensler. 
• “The apparent fraud uncovered demands an immediate investigation of the Republican Senate candidates’ nominating petitions,” said Lavora Barnes, Michigan Democratic Party chair.
• If this latest complaint is substantiated, it could upend a crowded GOP primary Senate contest set for August.
• The complaint, filed by the Elias Law Group, alleged “at least five” markers of fraudulent signatures by the GOP candidates:
• “Clear, full page circulator fraud with evidence that all lines of the petition were filled out by the same person.
• Voters’ names appearing across multiple candidates’ petitions in different handwriting with errors in addresses and spelling.
• Voters’ names appearing within a single candidate’s petition more than once, in different handwriting with errors in addresses and spelling.
• Evidence of a “round-robin” scheme, which refers to instances of signature gatherers for different campaigns taking turns signing candidates’ petitions from names on a voter list.
• Visible circulator handwriting and signature mismatches.”
• “There is a well-documented history of significant fraudulent signatures on Republican nominating petitions in Michigan. In the 2022 election cycle, five gubernatorial candidates and three judicial candidates were not certified to appear on the ballot due to fraudulent signatures,” the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said in a press release.

Bridge Michigan: Dems allege forgery, fraud on GOP petitions for Michigan U.S. Senate seat

• Michigan Democrats are asking state elections officials to investigate the nominating petitions of several top Republican U.S. Senate candidates, alleging evidence of the kind of fraud and potential forgery that disqualified several gubernatorial candidates two years ago. 
• In a Friday letter to the Michigan Board of State Canvassers, attorneys for the Michigan Democratic Party and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee asked election officials to investigate nominating petitions submitted by Republican U.S. Senate candidates Mike Rogers, Sandy Pensler and Justin Amash, as well as former candidate Peter Meijer. 
• The request claims that the candidates’ submissions appear to be “infected” with potentially fraudulent signatures, pointing to instances of petition sheets that appeared to be filled out by only one person, voters’ names appearing across multiple petitions in different handwriting and mismatches in petition circulator handwriting as evidence that the petitions warrant further review. 
• “The Board should not certify any of these candidates for the ballot until it has conclusively determined that they have submitted 15,000 valid signatures from actual Michigan voters, as required by law,” the letter reads.
• Democrats claim state canvassers have the authority “and, practically speaking, a duty” to investigate the nominating petitions even though the challenge deadline has passed. 
• During the 2022 election cycle, several Republican candidates for governor were disqualified from the ballot following allegations that a ring of fraudulent circulators submitted a combined 68,000 forged signatures on nominating petitions for 10 different candidates, including five GOP candidates for governor.
• Given the 2022 cases, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes claimed the evidence brought forward “demands an immediate investigation” of the Republican U.S. Senate candidates. 

Associated Press: Potential signature fraud in Michigan threatens to disrupt congressional races

• Fraudulent signatures could upend Michigan’s congressional races this year as each declared GOP U.S. Senate candidate faces new calls to investigate their attempts to get on the August primary ballot…
• Republicans vying for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat are now facing similar allegations after state and national Democratic groups submitted a request that their nominating petitions be investigated on Friday.
• The Michigan Democratic Party and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee alleged in a letter sent to the Michigan Board of State Canvassers that the signatures on the petitions of each of the Republican Senate candidates show “patterns that indicate the presence of potential forgery and other fraudulent signature gathering tactics.”
• The petitions are worthy of investigation, according to the letter, because they show signs of “a possible repeat of the conduct of petition circulators during the 2022 election.”
• Five Republicans running for governor in 2022 were kept off the ballot after fraudulent signatures were found on their nominating petitions. 
• Former U.S. Reps. Mike Rogers and Justin Amash, along with businessman Sandy Pensler, are vying for the Republican nomination but all face allegations of fraudulent signatures from the Democratic groups. 

Michigan Advance: Democrats request investigation into GOP U.S. Senate candidate petitions

• A request to investigate alleged “indications of fraud” in the nominating petitions of Republican U.S. Senate candidates has been sent to the Michigan Board of State Canvassers.
• According to a release, the request was made by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), along with the Michigan Democratic Party (MDP), and a Michigan voter, Emily Judd, asking the Board of State Canvassers (BSC) to “immediately investigate” the nominating petitions of four GOP U.S. Senate candidates: former U.S. Reps. Mike Rogers (R-White Lake), Justin Amash (I-Cascade Twp.) and Peter Meijer (R-Grand Rapids), as well as businessman Sandy Pensler.
• “[O]ur initial review of these candidates’ petitions has uncovered patterns that indicate the presence of potential forgery and other fraudulent signature gathering tactics, suggesting a possible repeat of the conduct of petition circulators during the 2022 election,” states the request, which was authored by Christopher Trebilcock, and attorney with Clark Hill PLC.
• Allegations of signature fraud resulted in five Republican gubernatorial candidates in Michigan being kicked off the August 2022 primary ballot.
• “Given the indications of potential fraud revealed by our initial review, we request that the Board immediately conduct a thorough investigation of the nominating petitions submitted by Mr. Rogers, Mr. Pensler, Mr. Amash, and Mr. Meijer for suspected fraud,” stated the letter. “The Board should not certify any of these candidates for the ballot until it has conclusively determined that they have submitted 15,000 valid signatures from actual Michigan voters, as required by law.”
• Requests for comment were sent to Rogers, Amash, Pensler and Meijer for comment, but have yet to be returned.
• The letter, which provides photocopied examples from the various petitions, also notes that circulators accused of engaging in fraudulent signature collection activity in other petition challenges before the Board of State Canvassers also circulated petitions for the named Republican U.S. Senate candidates.
• “The apparent fraud uncovered demands an immediate investigation of the Republican Senate candidates’ nominating petitions,” said Lavora Barnes, Michigan Democratic Party chair. “The Bureau of Elections and Board of Canvassers should uphold their responsibility to protect the integrity of Michigan’s elections and conduct a full, thorough examination to ensure they stand up against fraudulent efforts to circumvent Michigan election law before taking any vote to certify the Republican Senate candidates to appear on the ballot.”
• The letter concluded by formally asking the BSC to conduct an immediate investigation of the petition sheets submitted by Rogers, Amash, Pensler, and Meijer, and to invalidate all petition signatures appearing on petition sheets signed by circulators who are found to have engaged in fraud. 
• “If, after that investigation, the Board determines that any of the candidates have not submitted the required number of valid petition signatures, they should not be certified for the ballot,” it stated.

Detroit Free Press: Michigan Democrats want review of signatures submitted by GOP Senate candidates

• The Michigan Democratic Party and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee on Friday asked state election officials to investigate whether three Republican U.S Senate candidates and another who has left the race submitted forged or otherwise fraudulent signatures on nominating petitions they submitted.
• The Free Press obtained a copy of the letter submitted by lawyers for the groups and a Michigan voter, Emily Judd, to the Board of State Canvassers, saying an “initial review” into petitions submitted by former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, former U.S. Reps. Justin Amash and businessman Sandy Pensler, as well as those submitted by former U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer, who has since left the race, showed “patterns that indicate the presence of potential forgery and other fraudulent signature gathering tactics.”
• If an investigation is conducted and any of the candidates were found to have less than 15,000 valid signatures, they could be taken off the Aug. 6 primary ballot for the Republican nomination to the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan.
• The groups said as many as 433 pages of signatures from random samples of the four candidates’ nominating petition sheets involve more than 20 petition gatherers, or circulators, who are part of other petition challenges filed against two judicial candidates in the last month and appear to involve “fraud or forgery tactics.”
• “Given the indications of potential fraud revealed by our initial review, we request that the Board immediately conduct a thorough investigation of the nominating petitions submitted by Mr. Rogers, Mr. Pensler, Mr. Amash, and Mr. Meijer for suspected fraud,” said the letter, which was signed by lawyer Christopher Trebilcock of Detroit and members of the Elias Law Group in Washington.
• The indications the group cited include:
• Entire petition sheets with signatures that appear to be in the same handwriting.
• Sheets which purport to be signed by the same circulator but with different handwriting being used for her signature and mistakes in her address and zip code.
• Duplicate voter signatures found in nominating petition sheets that purport to be from the same voter but appear to be in different handwriting.
• The same voter signing for different candidates but with different handwriting.
• Petition sheets submitted for different Senate candidates that “look nearly identical” in terms of the voters who signed them.
• The lawyers said many of the patterns mirrored those uncovered in 2022 when five Republican gubernatorial candidates were disqualified from the primary ballot after submitting fraudulent signatures.
• But the letter said it’s the board’s “statutory duty to canvass all petitions submitted,” considering the patterns the groups say they found. “If, after that investigation, the Board determines that any of the candidates have not submitted the required number of valid petition signatures, those candidates should not be certified for the ballot,” said the lawyers.

NBC News’ Henry Gomez: 

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