Chase Turner won’t be challenging incumbent state Rep. Ann Bollin in August’s GOP primary for the 49th District after being deemed ineligible to run by the Michigan Department of State.
According to a release from the Michigan Department of State, 15 candidates were disqualified from running. Turner is one of the 11 candidates declared ineligible to run because they signed false statements indicating they were in compliance with campaign finance requirements.
Another of those 11 candidates is Mellissa Carone, who gained national attention after she made unproven claims of fraud in Michigan’s 2020 election at a state House committee hearing alongside Rudy Giuiani. So remarkable was Carone’s appearance that it was parodied on “Saturday Night Live.”
The Department of State issued letters Tuesday disqualifying candidates from the August 2022 Primary Election ballot because of flaws on the candidate’s affidavit of identity.
The Michigan Election Law prohibits candidates whose affidavits of identity are missing required information or that contain false statements.
Of the 15 candidates disqualified, four candidates are being disqualified because of missing information or information that indicates the candidate is not eligible in the jurisdiction.
• Faiz Aslam (6th District Representative in Congress)
• Michael Shallal (57th District Representative in State Legislature)
• Steven Thomas (31st District State Senator)
• Howard Weathington (3rd District State Senator)
Eleven candidates have been disqualified because of false statements regarding the candidate’s compliance with the Michigan Campaign Finance Act:
• Betty Alexander (6th District State Senator)
• Mellissa Carone (11th District State Senator)
• Ronald Cole (7th District Representative in State Legislature)
• Kahlilia Davis (36th District Court Judge)
• Eddie Kabacinski (14th District Representative in State Legislature)
• Chris Martin (54B District Court Judge)
• Vernon Molnar (7th District Representative in State Legislature)
• Jon Rocha (78th District Representative in State Legislature)
• Alberta Talabi (3rd District State Senator)
• Chase Turner (49th District Representative in State Legislature)
• Lawanda Turner (11th District Representative in State Legislature)
According to the release, Michigan Election Law requires candidates filing for office to state that “as of the date of the affidavit, all statements, reports, late filing fees, and fines required of the candidate or any candidate committee organized to support the candidate’s election under the Michigan campaign finance act … have been filed or paid.” The Election Law also states that “An officer shall not certify … the name of a candidate who executes an affidavit of identity that contains a false statement.”
The 11 candidates all had outstanding campaign finance reports or unpaid fines at the time they signed the affidavit of identity. Some of the candidates paid fines after signing their affidavit of identity, or subsequently paid their fines, then withdrew their affidavits of identity and filed new affidavits of identity. Regardless of steps the candidates took after submitting affidavits of identity with false statements, the Department is prohibited by the Michigan Election Law from certifying the candidates’ names to the ballots for this election because they executed an affidavit of identity containing a false statement.
Other candidates who file with county clerks may be disqualified based on affidavit of identity by the county clerk.
The department says all 15 candidates were disqualified based on their affidavit of identity, not based on the sufficiency of their nominating petitions.
