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Michigan Democrats allege signature fraud by GOP Senate candidates, call for investigation

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Michigan Democrats allege signature fraud by GOP Senate candidates, call for investigation


Washington — Michigan Democrats are alleging fraudulent signatures and calling for an investigation into the nominating petitions for Republican U.S. Senate candidates, according to a complaint filed Friday.

The complaint to the Michigan Board of State Canvassers follows “an initial and limited review” of the petitions and specifically names four candidates: Former U.S. Reps. Mike Rogers of Brighton, Justin Amash of Cascade Township and Peter Meijer of Grand Rapids Township as well as Grosse Pointe businessman Sandy Pensler. Meijer withdrew from the race in late April.

“The apparent fraud uncovered demands an immediate investigation of the Republican Senate candidates’ nominating petitions,” said Lavora Barnes, Michigan Democratic Party chair.

Complaints like the Democratic Party’s have become commonplace in recent years, in many instances leading to the removal of Democratic and Republican candidates from the ballot. If this latest complaint is substantiated, it could upend a crowded GOP primary Senate contest set for August.

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The Board of State Canvassers is comprised of two Republicans and two Democrats.

But at least one Republican campaign accused the Democrats of playing politics.

“Democrats can’t beat Republicans at the ballot box, so it looks like they are trying to eliminate Republicans from the ballot. Sandy Pensler turned in over 26,000 signatures. He clearly qualifies for the ballot which is why no timely challenge was filed,” said Stu Sandler, a spokesperson for Pensler, a Grosse Pointe Park businessman seeking the GOP nomination.

The complaint, filed by the Elias Law Group, alleged “at least five” markers of fraudulent signatures by the GOP candidates:

  • “Clear, full page circulator fraud with evidence that all lines of the petition were filled out by the same person.
  • Voters’ names appearing across multiple candidates’ petitions in different handwriting with errors in addresses and spelling.
  • Voters’ names appearing within a single candidate’s petition more than once, in different handwriting with errors in addresses and spelling.
  • Evidence of a “round-robin” scheme, which refers to instances of signature gatherers for different campaigns taking turns signing candidates’ petitions from names on a voter list.
  • Visible circulator handwriting and signature mismatches.”

The Democratic Party explained why Meijer was named in the complaint even though he dropped out of the race.

“Although Mr. Meijer has suspended his campaign, we believe the Board should know the full extent of potential fraud across these four candidates’ nominating petitions,” the complaint said. 

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“There is a well-documented history of significant fraudulent signatures on Republican nominating petitions in Michigan. In the 2022 election cycle, five gubernatorial candidates and three judicial candidates were not certified to appear on the ballot due to fraudulent signatures,” the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said in a press release.

Look back: James Craig, Perry Johnson, 3 others ineligible for ballot, Bureau of Elections says (2022)

On the Democratic side, elections staff at the Wayne County Clerk’s Office determined Thursday that Democratic U.S. House candidate Adam Hollier of Detroit did not have enough valid voter signatures to qualify for the ballot in the 13th Congressional District. That came after first-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar of Detroit, challenged the signatures Hollier’s campaign collected.

The county staff recommendation isn’t final, as an official determination hasn’t yet been made by Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett on the sufficiency of Hollier’s petition.

gschwab@detroitnews.com

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@GrantSchwab



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Michigan

2025 cornerback from Georgia gets Michigan State football offer

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2025 cornerback from Georgia gets Michigan State football offer


Michigan State football has found a new prospect in the 2025 recruiting class to extend an offer to. Notably, so late in the cycle, any new offer holds major significance.

Chaney was once committed to Georgia State, but has backed off of that commitment. After a solid fall, he has received offers from Eastern Michigan, Oregon State and USF, along with MSU to go along with his initial crop of offers.

A 6’1″, 185 pound cornerback, be on the lookout for Michigan State to potentially make a move here if things do not work out with a couple of other prospects.



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UM report forecasts moderate economic growth in Michigan, nation in 2025-26

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UM report forecasts moderate economic growth in Michigan, nation in 2025-26


As the Federal Reserve continues to cut interest rates amid a cooling job market, the economy is poised for moderate growth in Michigan and nationally over the next two years, according to University of Michigan economists.

The national economy is projected to grow 2.3% in the fourth quarter of 2024 with the unemployment rate averaging 4.2%, while growth may ease slightly in the near future due to a slowing labor market, the UM economists said in a U.S. Economic Outlook for 2025–2026.

Meanwhile, Michigan’s economy has slowed since spring, with heightened uncertainty due to the recent elections, the economists wrote in a Michigan Economic Outlook for 2025–2026. Both reports were written by Jacob T. Burton, Gabriel M. Ehrlich, Kyle W. Henson, Daniil Manaenkov, Niaoniao You and Yinuo Zhang.

“The U.S. economy has gone through times of great uncertainty before and emerged intact,” the economists wrote. “We are projecting that both Michigan and the nation will follow that path over the next two years.”

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Job growth in Michigan is expected to decline in the second half of the year, but grow moderately in 2025 and 2026.

“We believe the election results have amplified the uncertainty surrounding Michigan’s economic outlook,” the economists wrote. “We project a small dip in Michigan’s job count in the back half of 2024 to give way to moderate job gains in 2025 and 2026, but the outlook depends critically on uncertain policy decisions and the subsequent market responses.”

The economists expect job growth in the state to be strongest in health care, leisure and hospitality and government, while sectors including manufacturing and professional services are expected to remain stable.

“We are projecting the state economy to return to growth over the next two years as easier monetary policy and another round of tax cuts boost medium-term growth,” the economists wrote. “Michigan adds 19,000 payroll jobs next year and an additional 26,700 in 2026. The unemployment rate in Michigan is projected to fall from 4.6% in late 2024 to 4.3% by the end of 2026.”

The Detroit, Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor metro areas showed a downward trend in job growth, with Detroit and Grand Rapids seeing 0.1% growth during the past year. Ann Arbor saw relatively stronger job growth of 1.3% as of September, according to the report. Metro-level data for October was not available for the report, officials said.

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The report attributes the underlying cause of the slowdown in Michigan’s job market as the Federal Reserve’s policy of monetary tightening to control inflation.

“Although the Fed has recently pivoted toward reducing short-term interest rates, we believe that real interest rates remain at a restrictive level and that the effects of the Fed’s past tight monetary policy continue to impact Michigan’s economy,” the economists wrote. “Indeed, in many ways, the national rebalancing in the labor market is precisely what the Fed hoped to engineer with its policy actions. Unfortunately for Michigan, our relatively rate-sensitive industry mix means that higher interest rates have taken a larger economic toll than nationally.”

The Michigan outlook points to stronger personal income growth, with per capita income increasing to $64,000 in 2024 and reaching around $68,500 by 2026, up 41% from 2019.

Inflation is expected to slow to 3.3% in 2024 and 2.2% in 2025 before increasing to 2.7% in 2026 due to new tariffs that the incoming Trump administration is expected to impose.

The U.S. and Michigan economic outlook reports follow the presidential election, which economists say will result in significant changes in U.S. economic policies. In the reports, the economists shared their thoughts on about the impacts of a second Trump administration.

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The recent election of Donald Trump as well as the Republican majorities in the U.S. Senate and House will likely to result in a continuation of tax cuts Trump enacted during his first term, the economists said. Also expected is a sharp rise in tariffs on imports from China to take effect by 2026. 

While rising tariffs on Chinese imports and tax cuts for corporations and individuals are expected in upcoming years, revenue increases from tariffs are unlikely to offset revenue losses generated by tax cuts, according to the report. This could result in slower revenue growth and a sharp increase in federal deficits.

“As the stimulative effects of the expected tax cuts dominate the drag from the anticipated new tariffs, we project quarterly GDP growth to accelerate modestly during 2026, reaching a 2.5 percent annualized pace by 2026 Q4,” the economists wrote.

The report notes that the Federal Reserve has started cutting interest rates after keeping them at a 23-year high of 5.25% to 5.5% for 14 months. The rate was reduced by 50 basis points in September and 25 basis points in November, bringing it to 4.5% to 4.75%.

Additional cuts will depend on economic data, with the economists expecting another 25 basis point cut in December.

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Looking ahead at next year, the economists say they expect the Fed to make four more 25-basis-point cuts in 2025 and reach a range of 3.25–3.5% by the end of the year.

“In our view, the temporary uptick of inflation related to tariffs will not prompt the Fed to tighten policy in 2026,” economists wrote. “We believe that risk management concerns related to the potential negative growth effects of tariffs, which played a role in the 2019 rate cuts, will balance the upside risks from new tax cuts, prompting the Fed to stand pat.”

cwilliams@detroitnews.com

@CWilliams_DN



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Bullock scores 20 as South Dakota knocks off Western Michigan 80-76

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Bullock scores 20 as South Dakota knocks off Western Michigan 80-76


Associated Press

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — Quandre Bullock scored 20 points off of the bench to lead South Dakota past Western Michigan 80-76 on Wednesday night.

Bullock also contributed three steals for the Coyotes (5-1). Paul Bruns scored 18 points, shooting 6 for 13 (3 for 8 from 3-point range) and 3 of 3 from the free-throw line. Cameron Fens had 16 points and shot 7 of 9 from the field and 2 for 4 from the foul line.

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The Broncos (2-4) were led by Markhi Strickland, who posted 20 points and six rebounds. Western Michigan also got 13 points and six rebounds from Owen Lobsinger. Javaughn Hannah also recorded 12 points.

Bullock scored 12 points in the first half and South Dakota went into the break trailing 34-33. Bruns’ 18-point second half helped South Dakota close out the four-point victory.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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