Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land today made the official declaration that the recall petition filed against House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township is insufficient.

The petitioners filed 15,737 signatures with the Bureau of Elections on May 1. After completing the canvass and incorporating information gathered through the challenge process, the petition falls 776 short of the 8,724 signatures necessary to put the recall question on the Aug. 5 primary ballot.

"I commend the professionalism of the local election officials and the Bureau of Elections as we moved through this extensive and time-consuming review process," Land said.

The Bureau of Elections' preliminary findings released on May 23 showed that only 8,224 signatures were valid and those of registered voters. Since that time, challenges filed by the officeholder regarding the registration status of signers and circulators and to the genuineness of their signatures have been reviewed. Also reviewed were rebuttals from the sponsors of the recall petition.

The findings are as follows:

• Total number of valid signatures required - 8,724
• Total number of signatures filed - 15,737
• Result of face review - 14,704 face valid signatures; 1,033 invalid signatures.
• Result of registration verifications - 4,296 signatures rejected under signer registration verifications; 2,053 signatures rejected under circulator registration verifications.
• Result of challenge process - 407 signatures rejected under challenge process
• Summary of petition review process - 7,948 signatures accepted; 7,789 invalid signatures.

Regarding the allegations of forgery and other crimes committed by signature gatherers, the Bureau of Elections will forward its findings and all challenges received during the petition review to the attorney general and the Wayne County prosecutor for further investigation.

Related Link
> Final Review of Recall Petition Filed Against State Representative Andy Dillon