Democrats lodge new fraud allegations against Rogers’ U.S. Senate petitions 

Story updated at 3:44 p.m.

New allegations of “apparent fraud” have been submitted to the Michigan Board of State Canvassers (BSC), this time focusing on the nominating petitions of former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-White Lake) in his run for the U.S. Senate.

The Michigan Democratic Party (MDP), the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and a Michigan voter, Emily Judd, initially asked the BSC on May 17 to investigate the nominating petitions of four of the five candidates seeking the GOP nomination — Rogers, as well as former U.S. Reps. Justin Amash (I-Cascade Twp.) and Peter Meijer (R-Grand Rapids), and businessman Sandy Pensler. The complaints allege instances of “potential forgery,” among other accusations.

On Friday, a supplemental letter was sent to the canvassing board saying that additional indications of apparently fraudulent signatures on Rogers’ petitions had been uncovered, including: 

Rogers, Amash and Pensler remain in the race to replace Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who is retiring. Meijer previously dropped out of the race, but had already submitted his petitions for review. 

Also running for the GOP nomination is physician Sherry O’Donnell, who was not named in either letter.

The supplemental letter, which included more than 160 pages of exhibits, alleged that Rogers’ nominating petitions contain 12,293 signatures submitted by circulators who “potentially engaged in fraud,” while a review of Rogers’ sample showed that approximately 23% of signatures were from unregistered voters. 

“If that figure is extrapolated to the entire universe of signatures, a total of 15,965 signatures may be implicated, bringing Rogers below the 15,000 signature threshold,” stated a press release. 

Among the allegations in the supplemental letter are that six voters say their names and signatures were forged on petition sheets for Rogers, as they did not fill out or sign them. Included among them is a declaration from Mary Alexander that her brother, DeWayne Washington, whose name appears on the same sheet as hers, was deceased. And, in fact, included among the exhibits in the letter is a copy of his 2022 obituary.

When asked about the allegations, Chris Gustafson, the communications director for the Rogers campaign sent the Michigan Advance a statement.

“It’s as illegitimate as the last one; Democrats didn’t file a legal challenge in time and are lashing out because Mike Rogers will be on the ballot and they know they can’t beat him. Any coverage of that baseless letter is not journalism, but complicit engagement in election interference,” Gustafson said.

Later Friday afternoon, however, the Rogers campaign sent an email to supporters saying that the letter from the MDP and DSCC “lacks any merit and fails to meet the requirements of state law as it was not submitted prior to the May 2, 2024 deadline and lacks notarization as required by MCL 168.552(8). As such, the letter will be dismissed.”

It also included a quote from Gustafson.

“Elissa Slotkin is so terrified to face Mike Rogers in November that she enlisted DC liberal elitist lawyer Marc Elias to release this meritless letter three weeks after the challenge deadline in an attempt to subvert democracy, silence Michigan voters, and distract from her failed record on the cost of gas, groceries, and securing the border. We are confident this letter will be dismissed. Michiganders can rest assured we will respond outlining the baseless lies within this political stunt,” he said.

While the period set aside to challenge petition signatures is seven days after they are turned in, Christopher Trebilcock, and attorney with Clark Hill PLC who authored both letters, noted that the BSC “has the authority-and, practically speaking, a duty-to conduct a full investigation of candidates’ nominating petitions, even absent a formal or timely complaint.”

That was the case in 2022, when a petition fraud scandal resulted in five GOP gubernatorial candidates being kicked off the primary ballot. 

One of the attorneys involved in that effort, Steve Liedel, tells the Advance that the challenge period is simply a “procedural deadline for a particular form of complaint,” but does not at all impact the Board of State Canvassers’ sworn duty to ensure that the petitions are legal and meet all of the requirements.

“That’s the duty under the statute,” said, Leidel, who served as counsel to Democratic former Gov. Jennifer Granholm. “There are various elements of that in timelines and procedures, but at the end of the day, before a candidate is placed on the ballot, the Board of State Canvassers has an obligation to make that determination.”

Liedel is not personally representing any Senate campaign this cycle, although his firm represents Democratic candidate Hill Harper.  

He said regardless of what is or is not challenged in the initial seven days, candidates and their campaigns have the ultimate responsibility to make sure the signatures they are submitting are valid.

“I hear a lot of allegations from Republican candidates and other Republicans about dead voters voting,” he said. “Well, if dead voters shouldn’t vote, should dead voters sign petitions?”

Liedel also said if evidence of fraud is brought forward, state officials have a duty under the election law to refer that to law enforcement, as well as the BSC.

“For the Board of State Canvassers to ignore it because of a deadline, I mean, the fraud occurred long before the deadline, right? And so either there are fraudulent signatures or there are not. Either there are sufficient signatures or there are not, and that’s the process that the board is undertaking,” he said.

Democrats are not immune to petition scandals, either.

Former state Sen. Adam Hollier (D-Detroit) was disqualified this week from the August primary ballot for the 13th Congressional District after Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett confirmed Hollier had failed to submit enough valid voter signatures as had been alleged in a petition challenge mounted by U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Detroit), the first-term incumbent.

The Board of State Canvassers will next meet May 31. Currently, the only candidates for the U.S. Senate race that are listed as being officially challenged are U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) and businessman Nasser Beydoun, two of three Democrats seeking the nomination.

Trebilcock also authored a letter last week to the BSC on behalf of the Slotkin campaign, noting that the challenge filed against her campaign was made by an agent of Harper’s campaign, calling it an “unserious complaint” and claimed that it did not follow the Board of State Canvassers’ procedure for signature sampling. 

This story was updated to add in information included in an email from the Rogers campaign to its supporters.