Petition signature validators testify that their concerns were brushed off
Two validators who worked for a trio accused of faking petition signatures testified Friday that they were told to "push" through signatures if the information matched or to "mark it good" despite concerns they raised.
The three-day-long preliminary exam for Shawn and Jamie Wilmoth and their business partner Willie Reed is to continue Feb. 29, when former Republican gubernatorial candidate Ryan Kelley is expected to testify. The Wilmoths and Reed each face more than two dozen charges in 37th District Court in Warren.
Kelley was expected to testify Friday from a federal prison in Wisconsin, where he is serving a 60-day sentence after he pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor charge for participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. He is to be released from prison Jan. 25, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons website.
Michigan Assistant Attorney General Chris Kessel said Friday that technology issues, specifically with video, prevented Kelley from testifying.
The Wilmoths and Reed are accused of operating a criminal enterprise that charged several campaigns more than $700,000 for valid signature collection, then delivered thousands of forged signatures on nomination petitions to eight of the campaigns.
Seven candidates provided with fraudulent signatures were disqualified from appearing on the ballot and one candidate withdrew, state prosecutors previously said.
90% of candidate's petition signatures invalid
Judge John Chmura will determine whether the trio will stand trial on the charges in Macomb County Circuit Court after all the testimony is complete.
The fake signatures ended up getting five GOP gubernatorial candidates in 2022 and others disqualified from the ballot.
John Cahalan testified Friday that he ended up withdrawing from a Wayne County probate judge race in spring 2022 when a political consulting firm that reviewed his petitions determined that close to 90% of the signatures he received from Shawn Wilmoth were invalid. He hired Wilmoth's company to collect signatures for his campaign.
"I was forced to do the right thing. I withdrew from the ballot rather than being disqualified," Cahalan testified. "If the signatures I submitted were invalid, then I shouldn't be on the ballot."
Daily concerns brushed off, workers testify
More than a dozen witnesses have testified for the Michigan Attorney General's Office, which filed the charges in June. Four witnesses testified Friday, including Stacy Conroy and Jennifer Hendrickson, who worked as validators for Wilmoth and Reed at least twice, including in 2022. They checked names, addresses and other information on the petitions.
They testified that the signatures started looking alike. They reported their concerns to Jamie Wilmoth, whom Hendrickson called the office manager, and Jamie Wilmoth would contact her husband or show him the concern.
They testified they would approach Jamie Wilmoth with concerns daily, sometimes more than once a day. Conroy testified that after talking with Shawn Wilmoth, Jamie Wilmoth would tell her to "mark it good." Both eventually stopped raising concerns when they kept getting the same answers.
Hendrickson testified that Shawn Wilmoth once said that if he was "going down that he was going to take us down with him."
State prosecutors previously said Shawn Wilmoth is owner/operator of First Choice LLC and co-owner of Mack Douglas LLC, and Reed is owner/operator of Petition Reeds LLC and co-owner of Mack Douglas.
The trio is accused of defrauding the 2022 gubernatorial campaigns of former Detroit Police Chief James Craig, Donna Brandenburg, Perry Johnson, Michael Brown and Michael Markey, and judicial candidates Cahalan, Tricia Dare and John Michael Malone.
The forgeries were detected by the Michigan Bureau of Elections and it was determined the campaigns of Craig, Brandenburg, Johnson, Brown, Markey, Dare and Malone had not met the qualifications to appear on the ballot.
The Michigan Department of State referred the matter to the Attorney General's Office in June 2022.
Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @challreporter.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Workers testify in fake nominating petition signature case
