Advance Notice: Briefs

‘Quality guru’ Johnson remains off August primary ballot after unanimous court ruling 

By: - June 1, 2022 12:06 pm

Republican gubernatorial candidate Perry Johnson holds a campaign kick-off event in Lansing on Feb. 23, 2022. (Andrew Roth | Michigan Advance)

One of the five Republican gubernatorial candidates who were tossed off the August primary ballot last week has lost a key court decision to rescind that decision.

The Michigan Court of Appeals unanimously denied a request from businessman Perry Johnson to provide him a path back onto the ballot. Johnson had sought the decision after the Board of State Canvassers deadlocked last week along party lines on a recommendation by state election officials that he, along with former Detroit Police Chief James Craig, Michigan State Police Capt. Michael Brown, financial adviser Michael Markey and businesswoman Donna Brandenburg, had failed to meet the 15,000-signature threshold because of fraudulent signatures.

Brown has since dropped out of the race.

While there is no evidence the candidates were aware that signatures were being obtained fraudulently, there also appears to be no dispute that they did not meet legal requirements. 

Johnson, a self-described “quality guru,” asked the appeals court to order the Michigan Bureau of Elections to examine each petition line by line. 

GOP gubernatorial candidates the Bureau of Elections said had enough signatures (clockwise): Garrett Soldano, Kevin Rinke, Ryan Kelley, Tudor Dixon and Ralph Rebandt,

But in a 3-0 opinion, the court ruled that the bureau “did not have a clear legal duty to conduct a comparison of each fraudulent signature against the qualified voter file.” Johnson could appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court.

While the decision was based on Johnson’s appeal, it could also apply to the other disqualified candidates, although separate legal challenges remain pending.

Attorney Mark Brewer, a former Michigan Democratic Party chair, previously told the Michigan Advance that he was dubious any legal challenges would succeed.

“These candidates have massive amounts of forged signatures, and they are not qualified for the ballot,” Brewer said.

Currently, there are five Republican candidates for governor on the August ballot: businessman Kevin Rinke, right-wing media personality Tudor Dixon, chiropractor Garrett Soldano, far-right activist Ryan Kelley and the Rev. Ralph Rebandt.

The winner will square off against Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Nov. 8.

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX

Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics.

Jon King
Jon King

Jon King is the Senior Reporter for the Michigan Advance and has been a journalist for more than 35 years. He is the Past President of the Michigan Associated Press Media Editors Association and has been recognized for excellence numerous times, most recently in 2022 with the Best Investigative Story by the Michigan Association of Broadcasters. He is also an adjunct faculty member at Cleary University. Jon and his family live in Howell.

MORE FROM AUTHOR