Republican gubernatorial hopeful John James submitted 30,000 signatures from voters in all 13 congressional districts to qualify for the Aug. 4 primary ballot, according to his campaign. (Simon D. Schuster\/Bridge Michigan)
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThere\u2019s no easy way for campaigns themselves to verify the validity of signatures because the state doesn\u2019t make the signatures voters submit when they register to vote publicly available.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But this year, the Johnson campaign collected signees\u2019 mobile numbers and compared those against public records, texting the individuals to \u201cconfirm that they indeed remember signing a petition two months ago,\u201d said consultant John Yob.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He suggested Michigan should allow digital signatures, as Utah does.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think technology has advanced so much since the law was written that it would make sense to improve the process,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Despite warnings their petitions will be scrutinized, some candidates have still struggled with the process. Another handful of congressional hopefuls failed to make the ballot in 2024<\/a> because of similar fraud issues.\u00a0<\/p>\nSome of the gubernatorial candidates who made the ballot four years ago, such as Rebandt, did so by relying on volunteers. But many campaigns still utilized paid circulators.\u00a0<\/p>\n
James\u2019 campaign said volunteers collected \u201cmore than 10,000\u201d signatures, <\/strong>with the rest presumably collected by paid circulators. Johnson estimated more than half of his signatures came from volunteers. Swanson estimated his signatures were 65% volunteer-gathered.<\/p>\n