The Michigan Democratic Party asked the state Board of Canvassers to review the ballot petitions of nearly three Republican Senate candidates to ensure the signatures are not fraudulent, USA Today reports. The Dems focused on petitions for former GOP Congressmen Mike Rogers and Justin Amash, and that of dilettante businessman Sandy Pensler. The petition of former congressman Peter Meijer, who already dropped out of the race for the August primary.
The Democratic request to the board The caution isn’t unreasonable: It comes two years after nineteen candidates, primarily Republicans, were removed from ballots because the auditors found identical signatures and voter information on petitions from different candidates. The Democrats noted that the candidates used some of the same organizations, or circulators, as the GOP had used previously when signatures were invalidated.