Two of Michigan’s most famous Republicans running for governor are ineligible after failing to collect enough valid signatures to be included on the ballot, Fox News informed.
Republicans appear to have lost 2 of their most competitive governor candidates in Michigan.
Both Chief James Craig of the Detroit Police Department and businessman Perry Johnson, two of the most known Republicans running against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, were unable to obtain the required signatures.
To appear on the state ballot, gubernatorial candidates must submit 15,000 valid signatures.
The impacted candidates, according to the bureau, were targeted by a series of petitioners who acquired only invalid or otherwise useless signatures, putting them considerably below the required threshold.
After analyzing the candidates’ paperwork, the Bureau of Elections declared the election’s complications on Monday.
According to the bureau, the invalid signatures were traced to around 36 petitioners that filed stacks of petitions with only invalid or unusable signatures.
According to the FBI, five gubernatorial candidates in the state had insufficient legitimate signatures: Johnson, Craig, Michael Markey, State Police Capt. Michael Brown, and businesswoman Donna Brandenburg.
Craig, Brown, and Brandenburg were contacted by Fox News for comment.
The surprise reshuffle threatens to undermine Republicans’ aspirations in Michigan entirely.
On Thursday, the Board of State Canvassers will discuss the Bureau of Elections’ findings and decide how to proceed.
In a campaign statement released Monday, Johnson said that the petition process in Michigan is terminally defective because it permits criminals to easily ostracize public office candidates and thousands of their supporters who lawfully sign petitions. He also said that the petition process must be improved by providing a method for campaigns to match signatures collected by circulators with the signatures on the Qualified Voter File in order to confirm their legitimacy.
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