LANSING, MI— Staff with the Michigan Board of State Canvassers say Sara Cambensy has surpassed the number of valid qualifying petitions to get on the ballot as an Independent candidate for the 38th State Senate District.
Marquette resident Linda Donckers challenged the petitions last month, claiming 1,247 of them should be rejected due to factors like circulator fraud, date errors, duplicate signatures, and address errors.
Staff didn’t make a recommendation regarding the disqualification of all signatures on every petition sheet circulated by Cambensy, as it’s a legal determination that must be made by the Board. They said even assuming the affidavits submitted with the challenge regarding two petition sheets provide adequate evidence to invalidate the 19 signatures on those sheets, Cambensy would still have 2,123 valid signatures.
As to Doncker’s claims that Cambensy campaign manager Jason Chapman’s signatures were forged, MBSC staff determined that each of the varying styles used on the petition sheets sufficiently agree with Chapman’s signature in the Qualified Voter File.
Donckers also argued that all of the signatures on the petition sheets circulated by Chapman must be disqualified because Chapman was not qualified to circulate Cambensy’s petitions. She said Chapman was not a proper circulator because Cambensy is running without party affiliation and Chapman is a Democratic Party leader; thus his circulation of Cambensy’s petition demonstrates an improper affiliation between Cambensy and the Democratic party. Staff said there is no policy or legal requirement that mandates a circulator for a candidate running without political party affiliation must also not have any political party affiliation.
The staff’s face review found 197 invalid signatures and 2,142 valid signatures, giving her a “cushion” of 642 signatures over the 1,500 needed for her to get on the ballot.
Staff are recommending the Michigan Board of State Canvassers find the petitions sufficient at its August 17th meeting.
The entire staff review is here.
