(WXYZ) — The Michigan Bureau of Elections says five of the ten Republican candidates failed to submit enough valid signatures to make the August Primary Ballot.
The new revelations will possibly leave the GOP without two of their top contenders—former Detroit Police Chief James Craig and businessman Perry Johnson.
The board of canvassers will be meeting on Thursday to discuss the findings. There also could be a potential investigation.
Michael Brown, Michael Markey, and Donna Bradenburg are the other three candidates who failed to get enough valid signatures.
Front runner James Craig submitted just over 10,000 valid signatures which was below the 15,000 he needed.
The Bureau threw out just over 11,000 signatures including close to 10,000 that were allegedly submitted fraudulently by 18 paid circulators.
On Tuesday morning, Brown dropped out of the race for governor, saying in part, "individuals independently contracted for a portion of our signature gathering and validation jumped onto other campaigns and went on a money grab. They were involved in allegedly fraudulent signature gathering activities with these campaigns causing the Michigan Bureau of Elections to declare all of the signatures connected to those individuals as invalid. I cannot and will not be associated with this activity."
The Board of State Canvassers is bipartisan, made up of two Republicans and two Democrats. They will meet Thursday to discuss the Bureau's findings of fraud across those five campaigns.
If the board agrees with the Bureau, this could cut the field down from 10 to 5.
The Bureau says they are working to refer the fraud to law enforcement for a criminal investigation.
