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State canvassers certify most petitions despite heated fraud allegations and questions over sampling
Summary
The Michigan Board of State Canvassers accepted staff recommendations to certify a consolidated list of candidates for the Aug. 6 ballot while facing contested challenges alleging circulator fraud in GOP Senate petitions; staff defended the use of random sampling, and the board directed further referrals and additional staff review on specific cases.
The Michigan Board of State Canvassers accepted a staff recommendation to certify the bulk of nominating petitions for the Aug. 6 primary on May 24, while opponents warned of coordinated circulator fraud and urged deeper review of GOP U.S. Senate petitions.
Director Breeder of the Michigan Bureau of Elections told the board that staff had adopted a 750-signature random sampling method for statewide U.S. Senate petitions to produce reliable projections of overall validity without reviewing tens of thousands of lines manually. Breeder said the sampling approach freed staff to examine many other petitions and to flag and refer suspicious submissions for possible law-enforcement investigation after the canvas is complete.
Opponents including counsel for challengers presented affidavits and other evidence they said showed patterns of forgery and “rainbowing” (duplicate or…
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