Republican ex-lawmaker's aides charged with faking vote petitions

August 11, 2012 by legitgov

Republican ex-lawmaker's aides charged with faking vote petitions 09 Aug 2012 Four staff members for former Representative Thaddeus McCotter were charged on Thursday with forgery and election fraud for creating fake nominating petitions in his 2012 campaign, Michigan's top prosecutor said. McCotter, a five-term [Republican] congressman who ran a brief quixotic campaign for president, had so many signatures from his election petitions stricken that he was ruled off the ballot in June. He resigned from Congress in July. The four former staffers "were engaged in a blatant attempt to commit forgery and election fraud," Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said at a news conference in Detroit. "They copied petitions, submitted petitions falsely signed by circulators and did cut-and-paste jobs that would make an elementary art teacher cringe," Schuette said.