GOP candidate for Michigan governor loses court appeal to be on August ballot

June 3 (UPI) -- James Craig, once the front-runner in the GOP primary race for governor of Michigan, lost a court challenge to appear on the Aug. 2 ballot after the Board of State Canvassers determined his campaign petition did not have enough valid signatures.

The Michigan Court of Claims on Thursday denied an appeal from Craig's campaign following his removal from the ballot by Michigan's Bureau of Elections.

He is one of five candidates the Board of Canvassers didn't certify, cutting the field of candidates in half. The Bureau of Elections determined that many petition signatures for their campaigns were fraudulent and invalid, leaving them short of the 15,000-signature threshold.

The Michigan Court of Appeals denied appeals by candidates Perry Johnson and Michael Markey. Donna Brandenburg filed a legal challenge Thursday. Mike Brown withdrew from the race. Friday is the deadline to certify August primary candidates in Michigan.

In her dismissal of Craig's claim Judge Elizabeth Gleicher wrote that she was bound by a state Court of Appeals decision that denied appeals from Johnson and.

"The collapse of the James Craig campaign ... likely is the greatest in Michigan history," said John Sellek, a Republican political consultant who was a top aide to former Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette.

The Bureau of Elections found that the James campaign submitted 11,113 invalid signatures out of 21,305 filed.

A statement from the elections bureau said, "Staff reviewed each petition sheet submitted by Mr. Craig. During that review, staff flagged each sheet which was signed by a fraudulent-petition circulator."

The bureau's report said there was evidence of "round-tabling" in petitions submitted by the James campaign. That's a practice in which individuals pass around petition sheets with each individual signing one line on each sheet in an attempt to vary handwriting.

Craig's campaign announced it intends to go to the Michigan Supreme Court in an effort to reverse the Court of Claims ruling.