Election

Ex-Detroit Chief James Craig Acknowledges Possible Fraud on His Ballot Petitions

May 11, 2022, 4:57 PM

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Craig announces his campaign last September in Detroit. (Photo: Michael Lucido)

Things don't always go smootly in political campaigns. Former Detroit Police Chief James Craig, seeking the Republican nomination for governor, knows that.

By March, he burned through two campaign managers. Now he faces serious questions about valid signatures for nominating petitions.

Craig acknowledges possible fraud by eight signature gatherers for his ballot-qualifying petitions, but insists his name should still appear on Republican primary ballots Aug. 2, according to the Detroit Free Press and other media.

"Chief Craig in no way condones any act of the handful of circulators who may well have injured his campaign and interfered with the constitutional rights of voters who support him or other candidates," Kansas City attorney Edward Greim says in a seven-page letter sent Monday to the Board of Elections on behalf of Craig's campaign.

The "allegation that a handful of circulators defrauded the Craig campaign and Michigan voters is troubling, (but) the proof will ultimately be found in a careful comparison between petition and qualified voter file (or master card) signatures," says the letter, which misidentifies the candidate twice as "Chief Clark." 

Craig's campaign submitted 21,735 signatures. If at least 6,736 are rejected, he'd come up short to get on the ballot.


Read more:  Detroit Free Press


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