Bureau of Elections staff are now putting together recommendations to the Attorney General on potential criminal charges against the three dozen circulators who appear to have forged names of the dead and unknown living voters onto candidates’ petitions.
The day after BOE staff recommended five gubernatorial candidates and 14 congressional and judicial candidates be kicked off the ballot for insignificant signatures, the Secretary of State (SOS) said it is shifting focus to potential prosecutions.
Board of State Canvassers Chair Norm Shinkle said Attorney General Dana Nessel needs to prosecute the 36 petition circulators identified in the staff report released Monday night. He said if she doesn’t it would only encourage people to continue.
“These people are crooks and received millions through fraud and we have to stop it,” he said.
The SOS estimated 68,000 fraudulent signatures. If 36 people were involved in the scheme and were paid, theoretically, $15 an hour, individuals in the group would have averaged $28,333 through fraud alone.
Attorney General officials will consider the SOS recommendations on prosecutions when it receives the information.
For Shinkle’s part, he said he was going to check out the petitions in person today at the BOE and was trying to get a handle on everything before the 10 a.m. meeting at the Capital Bank Tower in Lansing.
Thursday’s scheduled meeting would be a “long day” considering the level of fraud against the candidates is higher than he has ever seen.
“Thad McCotter was just a warmup,” Shinkle said.
Four aides to the former Congressman were caught photocopying signatures in 2012. Three were sentenced to probation, and one served 20 days in jail.
Meanwhile, the chair of the House Elections and Ethics Committee, Rep. Ann Bollin (R-Brighton Township), was surprised by the breaking news of the removal of several candidates including five running for governor. Bollin said it is really on the candidates to make sure each of their petitions are reviewed and clear.
“I would encourage all candidates to make sure they’re submitting their petitions early enough to allow for a thorough review,” Bollin said. “I think that we need to have some sort of provision. There needs to be a time of review of petitions, and if you get the signatures early, they can be reviewed earlier.”
Rep. Steven Johnson (R-Wayland Twp.) added, “We thought 2020 was going to be crazy.”
