July 21, 2006

Michaud Officially Withdraws

Carroll Andrew Morse

Dennis Michaud, as quoted by Scott Mayerowitz in the Projo...

"I have made a decision not to ask the Rhode Island Secretary of State’s office for a review or recount of the signatures contained in these nomination papers and will thus end my candidacy for governor of Rhode Island,"
According to Michaud's campaign manager, at least 600 signatures were deemed invalid...
Michaud’s campaign manager, Scott MacPherson, said about 1,500 signatures were collected.

While the Secretary of State’s office says 933 signatures were valid, MacPherson said 960 were deemed valid.

At the risk of disturbing what is now a sleeping dog, how exactly does someone collect 600 bad signatures in a governor's race? Could the problem be that he needed signatures from registered Republicans, but submitted bunches of independent signatures?

Anyone know the rules?

UPDATE:

Will, who I believe has some firsthand experience with these things, says you don't have to be a Republican. Any other theories? Or even a fact or two?

Comments, although monitored, are not necessarily representative of the views Anchor Rising's contributors or approved by them. We reserve the right to delete or modify comments for any reason.

You do not need to be a registered Republican voter to sign a ballot. You simply have to be a US citizen, 18 or over, a legal resident of Rhode Island, and most importantly, a registered voter.

Posted by: Will at July 21, 2006 5:44 PM

Andrew,

He needed signatures from valid RI voters. He probably received 1,500 signatures but many were probably invalidated for one reason or another.

I'm surprised his team did not have a voter list provided by the Secretary of State so that they could verify the signatures.

Most candidates that did make it on the ballot got double the amount needed to qualify simply because many people who claim to be registered voters are not.

Posted by: don roach at July 21, 2006 5:45 PM

Will and Don are correct. Any voter registered in RI could have signed those nomination papers.

What I find amazing is that they didn't sit down and check the signatures before returning them.

For my race in Cranston (for District 14 Representative), I had to collect 50 signatures from registered voters who live in the district. Two days before they were due, we sat down and counted them while checking against the list provided by the board of canvassers. Since we seemed to have only about 50 valid signatures at that point, we collected more just to be safe. (I have 78 valid signatures as of 4pm today.)

How someone could spend the time and money entering the race and then not be sure that they have collected enough signatures is beyond me. I won't complain, though, because I'm a Carcieri supporter!

Posted by: Dorinne Albright at July 21, 2006 8:56 PM


Dennis, we hardly knew ye!

Posted by: SusanD at July 21, 2006 11:44 PM

I have some blank ballots here. If anyone cares, the ballots say: "Each of the signers of this paper by so signing severally certifies that he or she is a voter in the area from and for which the above named candidates seek to be elected."

In other words, Rhode Island voters...

Posted by: Will at July 22, 2006 2:29 AM

For it to be a valid signature, it needs to be from a registered voter signed on the sheet for the town in which they are registered to vote in.

As for Michaud ... At the Bristol 4th of July Parade, while myself and others worked the Carcieri for Governor table gathering signatures, handing out info & bumper stickers, Michaud and his wife (I assume) approached us at the table and seemed completely oblivious as to why we were asking for signatures. When we asked about his signatures, he said he had already gotten his. Hard to believe since the papers were only handed out late on the day before, I believe, and this was about 9:30AM or so.

Michaud was kind enough to sign the Governors sheet that day!

Posted by: John at July 23, 2006 11:09 PM

Good Riddance!
Now we can hope that the other straw man who is (while behind a hopeless 30%) running a primary against an incumbent Republican will likewise fade away. Maybe he can run for office in Guatamala, where he illegally sent the taxpayer's property.
NOBODY'S LAFFEYNG NOW!

Posted by: Mike at July 24, 2006 11:56 AM

Yes, Chafee Camp, I mean "Mike". Let's complain over $1,500 worth of trucks sent to poor Guatamalans and not mention the hundreds of thousands of dollars in free health care Chafee gave to the crossing guards and their families in Warwick, or the taxes he raised when there was no crisis. CHAFEE IS A DEMOCRAT.

Posted by: Iandy at July 27, 2006 2:12 PM