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Here is a link to the article in today’s Detroit News, although it is behind a paywall. But, the following is a synopsis of the article.
It is asserted that, over the past five to seven years, there has been an uptick in petition fraud in Michigan. Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is calling for a “review and modernization of ballot access laws” in Michigan. She says the same petitioning “bad actors” are hired repeatedly in Michigan. She wants harsher penalties for petition fraud. Benson questions whether paper petition signatures are the best way to qualify for the ballot. Many local candidates in Michigan pay a fee to get on the ballot, and maybe that should be the policy for higher level races. She has talked with the Chair of the Michigan Senate Elections Committee about a “wholesale rewrite” of Michigan’s ballot access laws. Could AI help the signature validation process, or could it be used fraudulently? A signature forgery scandal knocked five Republican Governer candidates off the primary ballot in 2022. Eight US House candidates and several judicial candidates were struck from the 2024 primary ballot due to insufficient valid signatures. One GOP US House candidate who was knocked off the ballot says the rules are applied unevenly.
My commentary: The article was short on a lot of specifics (not the fault of its author), but, as I have written on this blog before, the problem in Michigan is that signature requirements are too damn high. This forgery problem is, in my opinion, a self-inflicted wound by the State of Michigan that would largely end if there were lower, more reasonable petition requirements. To require a major party candidate for statewide office to collect 15,000 valid signatures to get on a primary ballot is absurd. It’s only 12,000 signatures for an Independent candidate, but it used to be 30,000 signatures, until the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the number reduced in its Graveline v. Benson decision. No petitioning requirement for candidates or political parties should ever be more than 0.1% of the number of registered voters eligible to vote for that office. That is a sufficient barrier to so-called “ballot crowding.” If Michigan instituted that law, or reasonable fees that the non-wealthy could pay to get on the ballot, it would largely do away with candidate and political party signature fraud in that state.
On May 25, the Illinois legislature passed HB 4488, which moves the petition deadline for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties from late June to late May. Furthermore, it shrinks the petitioning period from three months to two months.
The bill had been introduced early this year on the subject of Crohns and Colitis Awareness, health concerns that do not relate to election law. But on May 23, the Senate deleted all the original contents of the bill and substituted various election law provisions, including the ballot access restrictions. It passed the Senate in its new version on May 24, and passed the House again on May 25. It was sent to Governor J. B. Pritzker on June 6. The news media has not reported on the bill’s ballot access restrictions. The bill does not take effect until 2025.
Assuming it is signed into law, there is a good probability that it will be held unconstitutional. Petition deadlines for presidential candidates running in the general election are unconstitutional if they are that early. June petition deadlines have been overturned in Alaska, Arizona, Kansas, Nevada, and South Dakota. May petition deadlines have been overturned in Idaho, and Massachusetts.
On June 6, the Somos PAC asked to intervene in the Robert F. Kennedy ballot access lawsuit in Nevada. The Somos PAC describes itself as “Latino-led.” It argues that it has a right to intervene, on the grounds that it is working for President Joe Biden’s campaign, and that if Kennedy is allowed to get on the ballot in Nevada, then the PAC will need to spend additional resources campaigning against Kennedy. It also alleges that if a third candidate gets on the ballot, “voter confusion and uncertainty will result, and that will reduce voter turnout.”
The Somos PAC is represented by the Elias Law Group, which is the leading law firm that represents the Democratic National Committee.
New Jersey held primaries on June 4. In Atlantic County, election officials were not supposed to have opened envelopes containing absentee ballots until May 31, but they did open them earlier. On Friday, June 7, a state court ruled that the ballots should still be counted. See this story.