An hour northeast of Ann 

Arbor, 
at 
Oakland 
University, 

incumbent Gov. Gretchen Whitmer 

and 
Republican 
challenger 

Tudor Dixon met to defend their 

platforms in front of Michigan 

voters for the second and final time 

before the Nov. 8 election. 

During the first debate, held 

at 
the 
WOOD-TV 
studio 
in 

Grand Rapids on Oct. 13, the 

two 
gubernatorial 
candidates 

discussed their approaches to hot 

topic issues like abortion, Proposal 

3, gun control and public education.

Libertarian 
candidates 
for 

Congress, secretary of state and 

governor gathered outside to raise 

awareness for their campaigns 

and engage passersby about their 

platforms.

In 
an 
interview 
with 
The 

Michigan 
Daily, 
Libertarian 

gubernatorial 
candidate 
Mary 

Buzuma 
highlighted 
her 

support for student opportunity 

scholarship 
programs 
and 

reducing government regulations 

on healthcare. She also said she 

feels the debate should have 

included third-party candidates 

like herself. 

“You 
need 
more 
voices 
— 

and not just (in) politics, but in 

government, period,” Buzuma said. 

“Because if not, you’ve just got two 

groups that are just going to stay in 

their own echo chambers.” 

The debate was moderated by 

Chuck Stokes, editorial and public 

affairs director of WXYZ, Elle 

Meyers, political reporter for Fox 

47, and Doug Reardon, anchor and 

reporter for Fox 17. Candidates 

answered questions submitted by 

Michigan residents ahead of time 

and addressed issues including 

inflation, 
abortion, 
taxes 
and 

education. 

In 
her 
opening 
remarks, 

Whitmer stressed the importance 

of 
bipartisan 
collaboration 

and highlighted her legislative 

achievements in public education, 

supporting the auto industry and 

protecting reproductive rights.

“Tonight, I think you’ll hear 

a lot of divisive rhetoric and 

misinformation and focus on the 

past from my opponent,” Whitmer 

said. “I’ll try to stay focused on 

our shared future. I know that we 

have (a) real opportunity in front 

of us, but the big question is this: 

Are we going to go backwards or 

are we going to drive together in 

the future? I say ‘Let’s step on the 

accelerator.’”

After the debate, Dixon criticized 

Whitmer’s emphasis on her record 

of bipartisan collaboration and 

claimed Whitmer has not met 

with every member of the state 

legislature. Dixon told The Daily 

that, if elected governor, she would 

increase communication with the 

state legislature. 

“It’s interesting that she talks 

about that because there are 

actually legislators that she’s never 

met,” Dixon said. “I would sit down 

with our legislators and meet with 

them regularly.”

In her opening remarks, Dixon 

also criticized Whitmer’s approach 

to 
combating 
the 
COVID-19 

pandemic 
and 
said 
she 
feels 

Whitmer has let Michiganders 

down 
on 
public 
safety, 

infrastructure and education. 

“In 14 days, you can change 

course,” Dixon said. “You can put 

Michigan back on the right track. 

I’ve traveled the state and from 

day one, I’ve been focused on my 

family-friendly plan for Michigan. 

Tonight, I’ll share that plan, and I 

hope to earn your vote on Nov. 8.” 

In spring 2022, Ann Arbor resident 
Susie Lorand was approached by a 
petition circulator at the Ann Arbor 
Farmers Market. The circulator 
asked her to support a ballot initiative 
they allegedly claimed would reduce 
barriers to voting. 
“The circulator said something 
to the effect of, (the petition) was 
going to make it easier to get an ID 
or driver’s license,” Lorand said in an 
interview with The Michigan Daily. 
Lorand said while she normally 
reads petitions before signing them, 
she forgot to do so at first. She ran 
back to the petitioner after signing to 
read the ballot initiative’s description 
and realized she had signed a petition 
for Secure MI Vote, a GOP-backed 
ballot initiative aiming to increase 
restrictions on voting access. She 
crossed her name off the list.
“I signed it because I liked the 
(petitioner’s) description, … then I 
read it and then I thought, ‘oh, no, that 
was stupid,’” Lorand said. “Because 
the description did not accurately 
represent the petition that was being 
circulated … it was really deceptive 
overall.” 
An investigation by The Daily 
revealed 
numerous 
allegations 
against petition circulators for two 
Republican-backed ballot initiatives 
of providing false or misleading 
information to voters in spring 
2022. This investigation is based on 
interviews with seven residents of the 
Ann Arbor area, as well as a review of 
recent news coverage and numerous 
posts on local social media forums. 
The Daily’s investigation found 

instances of circulators for the Secure 
MI Vote and Let MI Kids Learn 
initiatives allegedly engaging in 
these misleading practices. Let MI 
Kids Learn, a Betsy Devos-backed 
ballot initiative, aims to establish a 
tax credit program to fund donations 
for student opportunity scholarship 
programs, which provide funding to 
students for educational expenses like 
books and extracurricular programs. 
Critics of this initiative have argued 
that it would divert taxpayer dollars 
from public school funds.
Supported 
by 
Michigan 
Republicans, these ballot initiatives 
have sparked controversy over their 
signature-gathering practices. 
Fred Wszolek, spokesperson for 
Let MI Kids Learn, commented on 
these allegations in an email to The 

Daily, saying that National Petition 
Management (NPM), the company 
the campaign hired to gather 
signatures, trained their circulators 
to provide specific information about 
the initiative.
“(National Petition Management) 
train 
their 
circulators 
and 
contractually 
require 
their 
circulators to learn and stick to a set 
of talking points that are provided 
by the campaign,” Wszolek wrote. 
“We’re confident that our team of 
petition circulators fairly represented 
the proposal … (ballot initiatives are) 
composed of thousands of words, 
so any interaction on a street corner 
with a petition circulator is going to 
involve ‘limited information.’”
Wszolek also included a list of 
approved talking points for the 

initiative’s petitioners in his email to 
The Daily. The Daily’s investigation 
found 
allegations 
that 
petition 
circulators provided information not 
included in these talking points. 
Secure MI Vote and NPM did 
not respond to multiple requests for 
comment.
In the state of Michigan, there is 
currently no legal penalty against 
circulators who mislead or lie to 
voters 
while 
gathering 
petition 
signatures. Individuals who sign 
petitions under false pretenses also 
have no way of invalidating their 
signature if they later realize their 
mistake. 
Political campaigns often work 
with signature gathering companies 
such as NPM and Advanced Micro 
Targeting 
(AMT) 
to 
outsource 

petition 
circulation, 
and 
these 
companies often pay circulators on a 
per-signature basis. 
According to campaign finance 
records, Let MI Kids Learn paid over 
$5.7 million to NPM for signature 
gathering services between April 
and July 2022. Secure MI Vote paid 
nearly $500,000 for consulting 
and signature gathering services to 
Advanced Micro Targeting between 
January and July 2022.
Both Secure MI Vote and Let MI 
Kids Learn missed the signature 
submission deadline to be included 
on the November ballot. 
Bridge Michigan reported that 
the Secretary of State Office would 
treat Secure MI Vote as a measure 
intended for the 2024 ballot and 
review the signatures at a later date. 
Past 
controversies 
engender 
suspicion
Since April 2022, numerous Ann 
Arbor area residents have shared 
accounts of petition circulators 
allegedly engaging in misleading 
signature gathering practices on 
online forums such as Reddit and 
Nextdoor. These posts are not the 
first time attention has been drawn 
to such issues surrounding Michigan 
ballot initiatives. 
In September 2020, the Detroit 
Free Press reported that Unlock 
Michigan, a group petitioning to 
strip Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of her 
emergency powers, advised trainees 
to lie to voters to obtain signatures. 
An unknown representative from 
an opposing organization, Keep 
Michigan Safe, recorded a video of an 
Unlock Michigan circulator training 
session and shared it with the Free 
Press. In the video, the Unlock 
Michigan trainer Erik Tisinger 
appears to instruct circulators to 

provide incorrect or misleading 
information to voters.
“This can be a real shady job,” 
Tisinger said in the video. “And when 
I say shady, I mean, people do all 
sorts of illegal shit all the time and 
never get caught. It’s really hard to 
get caught doing shit except for, like, 
forgeries.”
Tisinger 
proceeded 
to 
tell 
circulators to leave their petitions 
with store clerks to collect signatures 
from 
customers, 
even 
though 
circulators must act as witnesses for 
all signatures. Tisinger also suggested 
that they provide misleading or 
incomplete testimony in the event 
they are deposed about whether they 
witnessed a signature. 
Bridge Michigan reported that 
in January, Voters Not Politicians, a 
voting rights advocacy group, shared 
video footage in which a circulator for 
Secure MI Vote appears to attempt to 
deceive voters in order to obtain their 
signatures. According to Bridge, the 
circulator claimed the Secure MI 
Vote petition would require voters to 
present two forms of identification 
at the polls, while the proposed 
legislation’s actual ID requirements 
are more stringent. The Secure MI 
Vote initiative would require voters 
to provide a state ID and remove the 
option to sign an affidavit affirming 
their identity if they did not have the 
correct identification. 
Jamie Roe, a spokesperson from 
Secure MI Vote, told Bridge he 
believed Voters Not Politicians was 
unfairly criticizing the circulators. 
Roe told Bridge he did not watch 
the video in question, but said it was 
possible the circulator was employed 
by Secure MI Vote.

Wednesday, November 2, 2022 — 3
News

Daily investigation finds allegations circulators misrepresented 
Republican-backed initiatives

FOCAL POINT

Whitmer, Dixon meet for second gubernatorial debate at Oakland University

 Community members describe misleading pitches, growing mistrust in signature gathering

Candidates make final pitches to voters, highlighting stances on abortion and public education

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

GOVERNMENT

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

IRENA LI &
 SAMANTHA RICH 
Daily Staff Reporters

On Monday afternoon, the Genesee 

County Jail hosted a hybrid forum 

in Flint, Mich. for six candidates 

campaigning for the Michigan Supreme 

Court, Appeals Court and the 7th Circuit 

Court of Genesee County. The event 

was hosted by Genesee County Sheriff 

Christopher Swanson, Genesee County 

Ambassadors, 
Nation 
Outside 
and 

Voting Access for All Coalition (VAAC). 

The VAAC is an organization aiming 

to help Michigan residents learn about 

their right to vote. This forum was also 

part of the Genesee County Jail’s Inmate 

Growth Naturally and Intentionally 

through Education (IGNITE) program 

that is designed to provide high school 

level education and post-incarceration 

work opportunities for incarcerated 

individuals. Before officially starting 

the forum, Swanson talked about 

the importance of the forum to the 

upcoming elections and to IGNITE’s 

voter education section.

“We want people to understand who 

they’re voting for, who they want to 

represent them,” Swanson said. “We’re 

here to educate people, and those of 

you watching online I encourage you to 

educate yourself to watch the candidates 

and how they respond to the questions 

because these are the people that are 

going to represent you.”

The forum began with introductions 

for the candidates for the Michigan 

Supreme Court present at the forum. 

The Supreme Court is the highest court 

in the state and consists of seven judges. 

The first speakers were Justice Richard 

Bernstein and attorney Kyra Harris 

Bolden. Bernstein is seeking reelection 

inw the Nov. 8 election. He emphasized 

how an individual’s background and 

experiences 
with 
challenges 
are 

important to take into account when 

reviewing a case. 

“It’s ultimately through our life 

experiences that we come to understand 

struggling, to understand hardship,” 

Bernstein said. “Ultimately, it is only 

those judges who truly understand 

what it means to face, understand and 

appreciate what it means to struggle 

(and) that have an empathy … to those 

who come before them.” 

Bolden echoed Bernstein, reminding 

voters that the decisions of the Michigan 

Supreme 
Court 
will 
set 
judicial 

precedents in the state for years to come. 

She encouraged voters to choose people 

they trust to make judgements that will 

impact voters both today and in the 

future.

“The Michigan Supreme Court 

doesn’t just affect people in this room 

today, it will affect generations to come,” 

Bolden said. 

The forum then moved on to speak 

with several candidates for the Michigan 

Court of Appeals, the state’s intermediate 

appellate court which hears cases 

between trial courts before they arrive 

at the Michigan Supreme Court. The 

Court of Appeals is divided into four 

regional districts and voters will have 

the opportunity to elect new members 

this November. Sima Patel, who was 

appointed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer 

in February, an incumbent candidate 

for the Second District Court of Appeals, 

was present at the event and is the first 

woman of Indian descent to be a judge 

for the Michigan Court of Appeals. 

Patel said having diverse perspectives 

on the bench is integral for the court be 

representative of its constituents. 

“I am the first Indian woman to ever 

sit on the Michigan Court of Appeals, I 

am one of a couple of judges who have 

ever had a civil rights experience,” Patel 

said. “I believe that no matter who you 

are, what your walk of life is, you deserve 

to have access to justice.”

Ann Arbor Mayor: 
Incumbent 
Mayor 
Christopher Taylor will face off 
against Independent opponent 
Eric Lipson. Taylor has served 
as Ann Arbor’s mayor since 
2014 and is seeking his second 
reelection bill following Ann 
Arbor City Council’s decision to 
extend the mayoral term to four 
years in 2018.
In addition to his duties as 
mayor, Taylor is a local corporate 
and 
commercial 
attorney 
practicing at Ann Arbor-based 
law firm Hooper Hathaway. 
Taylor’s tenure as Mayor has 
centered 
around 
pedestrian-
friendly infrastructure, high-
density 
housing 
and 
Ann 
Arbor’s A2Zero goal. If elected, 
Taylor’s third term will focus 
on enhancing quality of life and 
basic services such as public 
safety, 
road 
conditions 
and 
equitable living. 
Lipson 
announced 
his 
campaign in September after 
the primary elections in which 

Taylor 
won 
the 
Democratic 
against 
former 
Ward 
1 
Councilmember Anne Bannister. 
While Lipson has never served 
as an elected public official, he 
has previously advocated for 
environmental causes at the 
state and local levels. 
Lipson is an attorney and 
has worked at several non-
profit organizations. Lipson’s 
background in environmental 
justice 
and 
sustainability 
is 
echoed in his platform’s goals 
to promote A2Zero and address 
other Ann Arbor environmental 
concerns. 
Lipson’s 
platform 
also 
focuses on advancing affordable 
housing 
and 
living 
for 
all 
income levels and advocates for 
continued support of current 
environmental 
initiatives. 
In 
addition to Lipson’s goal to 
improve city services, he has 
proposed 
nonpartisan 
city 
elections, a proposal Mayor 
Taylor has previously vetoed 
twice on City Council. 
Ann Arbor City Council
All 
of 
the 
city 
council 
members will run unopposed 
with the exception of Ward 5 

where Jenn Cornell will face 
Jonathan Hoard. 
Ward 1: Cynthia Harrison, a 
lifelong resident of Ann Arbor 
and program manager at the Ann 
Arbor Center for Independent 
Living, is running uncontested 
for a spot alongside current 
Councilmember 
Lisa 
Disch, 
D-Ward 1, following the election. 
Harrison’s platform focuses 
heavily 
on 
mental 
health-
driven criminal legal reform, 
accessible transportation and 
the development of affordable 
housing. If elected, Harrison will 
be the first Black woman to serve 
on city council in over 15 years. 
During the August primaries, 
Harrison 
defeated 
Angeline 
Smith with 71% of the vote.
Ward 2: Chris Watson, born 
and raised in Ann Arbor, is 
running uncontested following 
outgoing Councilmember Kathy 
Griswold’s, D-Ward 2, decision 
to step down after Watson’s 
campaign 
announcement. 
Following the election, he will 
serve 
beside 
Councilmember 
Linh Song, D-Ward 2. 

Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Here’s what’s on the Ann Arbor ballot for the 
2022 Midterm Election 

Get caught up on the latest local races, from mayor to millages

JI HOON CHOI
Daily Staff Reporter

SHANNON STOCKING
Daily News Editor

ANN ARBOR
GOVERNMENT
 Genesee County Jail hosts forum for six 
contenders in judicial races 

Sheriff’s office brings attorneys to promote voter education, share policy platforms

Design by Evelyne Lee

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

ANNA FIFELSKI &
 SAMANTHA RICH 
Daily News Editor & Daily Staff 
Reporter

JULIANNE YOON/Daily
JULIANNE YOON/Daily
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speaks with the 
media after the second Gubernatorial 
Debate at Oakland University Tuesday 
evening.

Republican nominee Tudor Dixon 
responds to questions after the second 
Gubernatorial Debate at Oakland 
University Tuesday evening. 

