State Board of Canvassers votes to accept Cambensy’s qualifying petitions
Sara Cambensy is seen testifying at Monday’s meeting of the Michigan Board of State Canvassers. (Courtesy photo)
Jason Chapman testifying at Monday’s meeting of the Michigan Board of State Canvassers. (Courtesy photo)
Sara Cambensy is seen testifying at Monday’s meeting of the Michigan Board of State Canvassers. (Courtesy photo)
Jason Chapman testifying at Monday’s meeting of the Michigan Board of State Canvassers. (Courtesy photo)
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LANSING -- The Michigan State Board of Canvassers Monday voted to accept Independent State Senate candidate Sara Cambensy’s qualifying petitions after hearing a recommendation from Michigan Elections Director Jonathan Brater, as well as from lawyer Mark Brewer, Cambensy and Cambensy's campaign manager, Jason Chapman.
In a statement to The Mining Journal, Cambensy said, "We are relieved that the Board of Canvassers, a bipartisan body, voted 3-0 to place me on the ballot. My campaign has always said that any signatures that were invalid should be thrown out, but to infer there was intentional malice or mass fraud is egregious. Even members from other campaigns that were there, watching the hearing, said they could not believe what the challengers were doing.
"The part that's most upsetting to me is that the small group of people behind this- many who have had it out for me since I won the 2017 primary, hid behind community members who were asked to sign affidavits and put their name on this challenge- not fully understanding the manual, laws, and personal vendetta against me. How cowardly. Those people deserve the first apology from this hidden group.
"Should they take me to the state Court of Appeals to try and overturn the ruling, it will further show the personal pettiness of those who are truly behind my challenge, and that they have no problem trying to subvert the will of 2,339 voters who signed my petitions in order to take me down. How truly sad for our democracy."
Brewer was representing Linda Donckers, who had submitted a challenge to Cambensy's candidacy in July based on reports that Cambensy had signed petitions as circulator which she did not personally circulate, along with other reported issues. Donckers could not be reached for comment.
Brater told the board that the challenge's allegations that Chapman's signature had been forged on several petitions had been found to be untrue, as the signatures agreed sufficiently, and that there was no basis in law for the challenge's statement that Chapman was ineligible to circulate petitions for Cambensy due to his affiliations with the Democratic party.
Brater further told the board that even if all signatures on the petitions Cambensy had signed as circulator which the challengers took issue with were thrown out, she would still have enough signatures to appear on the ballot. Brater recommended that the board find her signatures sufficient.
Brewer argued that the board should deny Cambensy's petition outright, based not necessarily on the number of disqualified signatures but rather on a legal basis due to misconduct in collecting signatures. Brewer framed it as an opportunity for the board to hold a circulator accountable for misconduct.
Brewer also said that "where there's smoke there's fire," and that he and Donckers believed there were likely more problematic petition signatures that they hadn't yet been able to find.
Cambensy testified before the board that she believed the challenge was part of a larger effort by the local Democratic Party to remove her from the ballot, saying that "there is a small group of Marquette County Democrats who have been nothing but nasty to me," and that this group of local Democrats had "a vendetta against me personally."
She stated that she disagreed with all three affidavits presented by Brewer, and also claimed that she had received emails from affidavit signers saying they had signed the affidavits "after a few drinks."
Cambensy said that she had mistakenly signed one sheet of signatures as circulator which had actually been circulated by her mother, but that it had been accidental. She further testified that there had been a small number of signatures collected "in a social setting," which she had witnessed being signed while speaking with a previous signer.
Chapman also testified, saying that he had signed everything personally and that none of his signatures had been forged.
Mary Ellen Gurewitz, vice chair of the State Board of Canvassers, said that she found the issues with Cambensy's qualifying petition "troubling," but not egregious enough to take her off the ballot.
The board voted 3-0 to accept Cambensy's qualifying petitions, and she will thus appear on the November ballot.
Annie Lippert can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550. Her email address is alippert@miningjournal.net.