Lansing — The Michigan Bureau of Elections recommended Wednesday that two candidates for governor and one U.S. Senate hopeful be disqualified from the August primary ballot for submitting an insufficient number of petition signatures.
While the most well-known candidates in the races met the signature threshold, Republican Ralph Rebandt and Democrat Kim Thomas, who were running for governor, and Republican Bernadette Smith, who was running for Senate, didn’t hit the 15,000 signature standard, according to state election officials.
Rebandt, a longtime Oakland County pastor who now resides in Elmira, submitted 18,214 signatures, just 3,214 above the 15,000 required of candidates for governor.
The bureau sampled 750 signatures. He needed 618 of them to be valid to make the Aug. 4 ballot. However, only 533 of them were found to be valid. Of the 217 signatures ruled out, 110 came from people who weren’t registered to vote, 36 didn’t match the signature on file with the state, and 22 listed the voter at an invalid city or township.
Rebandt, who ran for governor in 2022 and finished in fifth place in the GOP primary, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Board of State Canvassers will decide on May 28 whether to agree with the Bureau of Elections’ analysis and officially disqualify Rebandt.
There are four other Republican candidates for governor: former Attorney General Mike Cox of Livonia, U.S. Rep. John James of Shelby Township, businessman Perry Johnson of Bloomfield Hills and state Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt of Porter Township.
As for Thomas of Battle Creek, the bureau found “hundreds of signatures of dubious authenticity and sheets showing clear indications of fraud,” according to its report.
Thomas needed 690 of her 750 sampled signatures to be valid, but only 60 were deemed valid.
If Thomas is disqualified next week by the canvassing board, two Democrats would make the August primary ballot: Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson of Detroit and Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson of Fenton.
In the U.S. Senate race, only Smith of Byron Center was recommended for disqualification. She submitted 6,932 signatures but needed 15,000, according to the Bureau of Elections.
Smith’s disqualification would clear the Republican primary field for former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers of White Lake Township.
cmauger@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: 2 governor candidates should be disqualified, election officials say
Reporting by Craig Mauger, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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