Lansing — The Board of State Canvassers voted Thursday to give Republican candidate for governor Perry Johnson a spot on the August primary ballot, despite a whistleblower who alleged Johnson's campaign falsified petition documents.
The Detroit News obtained an affidavit signed by a Johnson campaign consultant Wednesday, a day before the meeting. The affidavit claimed that Johnson's team ran sheets featuring more than 10,000 signatures through a printer to add a required "paid for" statement after the forms were signed. A political action committee supporting another GOP candidate, U.S. Rep. John James, delivered the affidavit to police.
However, members of the canvassing board said they hadn't received the affidavit or any information they could act on during Thursday's meeting to prevent Johnson, a wealthy businessman from Bloomfield Hills, from making the ballot.
"We have nothing," said Richard Houskamp, a Republican member of the canvassing board.
Before the affidavit became public, the Michigan Bureau of Elections, which examined Johnson's petitions, determined he turned in 22,406 valid signatures, more than 7,000 above the required 15,000-signature threshold.
Michael Pattwell, a lawyer working with Mission Michigan, the PAC supporting James, and Charlie Spies, a lawyer for the James campaign, had asked the board to delay qualifying Johnson for the ballot and to investigate the claims in the affidavit.
"That is forgery under the election law," Pattwell said of the...
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