Black lawmakers in Michigan are calling for an investigation into GOP House candidate Tom Barrett after he released an advertisement in a Black-owned newspaper that listed the wrong election date, per CNN.
Barrett’s campaign, which says it’s making an effort to reach Black voters, placed a full-page advertisement in the Oct. 2 edition of The Michigan Bulletin, a Black-owned publication predominantly serving Lansing’s Black community.
But the advertisement told readers to vote “on November 6,” the day after Election Day, Nov. 5.
Jason Roe, a spokesman for Barrett’s campaign, said printing the wrong election date was “nothing but a proofing error.”
“Our campaign has been committed to outreach to the Black community and Black leaders because it is important to Senator Barrett that every community be heard in this election,” Roe said in a statement. “The publisher of the Bulletin notified us of the error on Saturday and we’ve provided him with revised art for next week’s issue.”
Democratic lawmakers are asking the state’s attorney general and the Ingham County prosecutor to investigate Barrett for what they say could be a potential violation of Michigan election law, which makes it a felony to spread intentionally false information about the elections process in an attempt to deter individuals from voting.
“At best, Tom Barrett and his Campaign have committed a shocking oversight which will undoubtedly lead to confusion by Black voters in Lansing,” Democratic senators Sarah Anthony and Erika Geiss wrote in the complaint. “And, at worst, this ad could be part of an intentional strategy to “deter” Black voters by deceiving them into showing up to vote on the day after the 2024 election.