MARQUETTE, Mich. (WZMQ) – Independent Sara Cambensy’s campaign required 1,500 signatures to be filed and turned in by mid-July. By that time, she says her team collected a total 2,349 signatures.
On July 23, a complaint was filed to the Board of State Canvassers by Marquette Resident, Linda Donckers, challenging the validity of that number and claiming there were enough defective signatures to not qualify Cambensy for the ballot.
Her team is currently refuting to two of three affidavits, including a case where Cambensy was not in the presence of two signers, claiming to have been holding another conversation approximately 12 feet from those signing the petition, before meeting and thanking them afterwards.
Cambensy argues the challenge is directed by intimidation from county and state democrats.
“We feel like [Marquette County Dems] started with the problem, which was to try and find a way to get me off the ballot, and then back their way into it to see how they could come up with that number,” she said. “They’re claiming I’m not the one who actually got those signatures. So from there, they want extra time, they want to comb through all of my signatures to throw them out.”
Forged signature accusations are also widely speculated in the challenge. Campaign Manager, Jason Chapman signed his name on 19 separate petition pages. Of the 19, 15 have been claimed as invalid by pointing out three separate writing styles.
“The irony in that is there is another woman who collected signatures for us who is also a member of the MDP and MCDP,” she said. “So to call out just my manager and not her, they just focused on him.”
Jennifer Figler, Chair for the Marquette County Democratic Party responded to the accusations stating while the challenger is a resident of the county, they are not a member of the Democratic party, and that “The concerns in the challenge are a serious matter for the board of canvassers to investigate. Ms. Cambensy’s statement spends more time making erroneous accusations than addressing the concerns in the challenge.”
“By all means, we would agree to throw out all of the signatures where there are mistakes, but to claim that there is malicious fraud going on, it’s uncalled for,” said Cambensy.
WZMQ 19 reached out to the challenger and have yet to receive a response. The Michigan Bureau of Elections is expected to make a decision on the challenge by August 14 at the next Board of Cavassers meeting.
