Saginaw City Council Member Under Investigation Over Election Petitions

Video footage newly released from the city of Saginaw appears to show a city council member writing on a candidate nominating petition that was not her own.

An investigation by the Michigan Secretary of State’s office began into Monique Lamar-Silvia after city workers saw Lamar-Silvia on surveillance video allegedly falsifying the signatures. The petition in question was for a candidate for Saginaw City Council, Eric Eggleston, who filed a petition to run for council an hour before the filing deadline on July 23. Eggleston was told he did not have the required number of valid signatures, six shy of the 50 required. He managed to return to the city clerk’s office with enough signatures just before the cutoff time at 4:00 P.M., according to city officials, though the clerk’s office determined some of the signatures were not valid. That’s when the workers reviewed the surveillance video from outside city hall with Lamar-Silvia allegedly writing on petitions.

The Secretary of State’s office has confirmed it is investigating the incident.