Board: 4 in House races lack signatures
Elections panel to decide fate of their campaigns Thursday
Four candidates running for Congress didn’t submit enough valid signatures to make the ballot for the August primary in their respective races, according to reports released Monday by Michigan’s Bureau of Elections.
The candidates are:
Democrat Joseph Alfonso, a candidate for the new 4th Congressional District
Republican Elizabeth Ferzst, a candidate for the new 5th Congressional District
Republican Jake Hagg, a candidate for the new 7th Congressional District
Republican Gabi Manolache, a candidate for the new 3rd Congressional District
The reports released Monday are recommendations made to the Board of State Canvassers, a four-person body with two Democrats and two Republicans. The board is expected to decide on the recommendations during its Thursday meeting.
In addition to the four congressional candidates, five Republican hopefuls for governor also didn’t submit enough valid signatures, per the Bureau of Elections.
To run for Congress, candidates need to submit 1,000 valid petition signatures. A signature can be invalid for a number of reasons — the person who signs isn’t a registered voter, they don’t live in the district the candidate is running in, they enter their address or a date incorrectly and more.
Some candidates missed the 1,000-signature threshold by narrow margins.
Alfonso, the lone Democrat who filed to challenge Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Holland Township, submitted 1,027 total signatures. Of those, 959 appeared to be facially valid, per the Bureau of Elections. All but one of the 68 invalid signatures were attributed to errors.
If the Board of State Canvassers accepts the recommendation of the Bureau on Thursday, Huizenga would be the only candidate listed on the ballot for the new 4th District, which includes the entirety of Allegan and Van Buren counties, as well as parts of Berrien, Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Ottawa Counties.
At an earlier point in the election cycle, the district was poised to have a crowded contest — but in March, state Rep. Steve Carra, R-Three Rivers, dropped out of the Republican primary and threw his support behind Huizenga. U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, had represented much of the area in the new district in Congress since 1987, but in April announced he would retire at the end of the current term.
Alfonso said he will ask the state canvassers to allow him on the ballot. If they follow the Bureau’s recommendation and deny, he will run as a write-in or independent candidate.
Ferzst was one of three Republicans who filed to run in the new 5th District, along with incumbent U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Tipton, and Sherry O’Donnell. One Democrat, Bart Goldberg, has filed to run in the district, which is made up of counties along Michigan’s southern borders with Indiana and Ohio.
Per the Bureau’s report, 477 of the 1,385 signatures submitted by Ferzst were invalid — including 382 that were rejected because of heading errors, or mandatory elements of a petition’s heading not being included.
Hagg was slated to face state Sen. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, in the Republican primary for the new 7th District, which encompasses Lansing and several counties in the surrounding area. Incumbent U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, DHolly, is the lone Democrat vying for the seat.
Hagg submitted 1,424 signatures, 476 of which were found invalid. Of the invalid signatures, 303 were attributed to errors with the jurisdictions petition signers listed in their address.
Manolache had filed to run in the new 3rd District, which, like the current 3rd District, is based around Grand Rapids. The new 3rd, however, includes parts of Muskegon and Ottawa counties.
She submitted 1,242 signatures, but the Bureau found 276 signatures to be invalid. Most of the invalid signatures, 238 of them, were invalidated because of jurisdiction errors.
U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer, R-Grand Rapids, has filed to run for reelection in the new 3rd District. Another Republican, John Gibbs, has also filed to challenge Meijer in the Republican primary.
Gibbs has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump. Meijer was one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection in 2020.
Democrat Hillary Scholten, a Department of Justice employee during the Obama administration, has filed to run in the district as well. Scholten ran against Meijer in 2020, when the 3rd District was open after former U.S. Rep. Justin Amash left Congress.