Republican U.S. Senate Candidate Wants To Void Signature Requirement To Make Ballot

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 04/09/2026) A Royal Oak woman and self-described as the grassroots Republican candidate for U.S. Senate filed a lawsuit seeking ballot access without meeting the signature requirements.

Genevieve Peters Scott’s complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court, acknowledges that she relies primarily on personal resources and volunteer efforts because her campaign “lacks significant party infrastructure, institutional support, major funding or endorsements.”

Peters Scott claims she’s spent $60,000 of her own money and used 230 volunteers, who have collected about 7,230 signatures from voters across all 83 Michigan counties, but she’s “unable to satisfy the statutory threshold by the filing deadline.”

Under Michigan law, Peters Scott needs 15,000 to 30,000 signatures for a partisan petition.

As a result, Peters Scott wants a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction stopping the Secretary of State’s office from enforcing the signature threshold or to allow her an “adequate alternative method” to make the Aug. 4 primary ballot.

“By conditioning effective ballot access on the ability to finance large-scale signature collection – at substantial cost … the scheme imposes an unconstitutional wealth barrier,” wrote Peters Scott, who filed the complaint Tuesday on her own behalf.

The complaint names Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Attorney General Dana Nessel and Elections Director Jonathan Brater as co-defendants.

Peters Scott is arguably the lesser known candidate seeking to replace retiring U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-Oakland County), but she’s had moments in the spotlight, including an alleged egging on Washington, D.C., rioters on Jan. 6, 2021, and participation in a protest outside Benson’s home.

In September, Peters Scott came close to beating Republican candidate Mike Rogers, the likely Republican nominee, in a straw poll during the Republican Leadership Conference on Mackinac Island.

See a spreadsheet with all congressional and U.S. Senate fundraising numbers as of Feb. 2 by clicking here.