LANSING – Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s Office declared that nine Congressional candidates failed to submit enough valid petition signatures to make the primary ballot in August, according to reports released Friday afternoon, May 24.

The determinations, if confirmed by the Board of State Canvassers next week, could whittle down the fields of contenders for seats in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate in the August primary races.

Among the candidates who didn’t submit enough valid petition signatures, according to the Michigan Bureau of Elections, were Nasser Beydoun, a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate, and Nikki Snyder, a Republican member of the State Board of Education who’s running for the U.S. House in the Eighth District.

Snyder, who’s seeking a seat that represents Midland, Flint and Bay City, needed 1,000 valid signatures. She turned in 1,079, but Bureau of Elections staff said 23 of her signatures didn’t feature dates, 30 came from people who weren’t registered to vote and 28 came from people who signed twice or signed other candidates’ petitions, leaving her short of the 1,000 threshold.

A consultant hired to help the Snyder campaign with signature collection did not collect as many as needed and what signatures were collected through the contractor appear to be fraudulent, said Michael Stroud, senior adviser to the campaign.

Beydoun needed 15,000 valid signatures, but his petitions were deemed invalid because he listed a P.O. Box for the candidate’s street address. That was “a failure to include a mandatory element of a nominating petition,” according to the Bureau of Elections.

“We’re going to fight it because it’s suppressing the vote on a technicality,” Beydoun said Friday.

If Beydoun is knocked out of the Democratic race, U.S. Rep. Elissa Sotkin (D-Holly) and actor and businessman Hill Harper of Detroit would be left competing for the nomination.

State officials also found that Anil Kumar and Rhonda Powell, two Democrats running in Michigan’s 10th House District, also didn’t turn in enough signatures.

“During face review, staff identified at least 47 petition sheets showing clear indications of fraud and containing signatures of dubious authenticity,” the Bureau of Elections wrote in its review of Kumar’s signatures.

Kumar, a member of the Wayne State University Board of Governors, needed 1,000 valid signatures. His campaign submitted 1,901, but the Bureau of Elections found that 951, the majority, were invalid.

Of those, for 781, the signature was either omitted or didn’t agree with the signature the bureau had on file for the voter.

“We are contesting this,” Kumar campaign manager Rick Michaels said Friday.

If Kumar and Powell are knocked out of the Democratic primary, four Democratic candidates would remain in the 10th District, which features portions of Oakland and Macomb Counties. The primary winner would challenge U.S. Rep. John James (R-Shelby Township) in November.

Other candidates the bureau found to have insufficient petitions were Steven Elliott, Republican candidate in the 12th House District; Ryan Foster, Democratic candidate in the 12th District; Hassan Nehme, Republican candidate in the 12th District; Josh Saul, Republican candidate in the First District and JD Wilson, Republican candidate in the First District.

Republicans had challenged the petition signatures of Democrat Curtis Hertel, who’s running in the Lansing area’s Seventh District. The Republicans had argued that Hertel made an error by listing on his candidate affidavit and nominating petitions the office he’s seeking as “U.S. Congress” instead of the U.S. House.

But the Bureau of Elections deemed Hertel’s petitions sufficient on Friday, noting he listed a district number on his petitions.

“Hertel’s designation on his petition sheets of ‘U.S. Congress’ along with a district number means that he could only be a candidate for the U.S. House,” the bureau’s report said.