The Michigan Bureau of Elections on Monday cut the field of Republicans candidates running for governor in half over failure to garner enough legitimate signatures, raising questions about responsibility and the role these signatures should play.

With the Board of State Canvassers meeting Thursday to decide whether to boot the GOP front-runners former Detroit police Chief James Craig and Perry Johnson off the ballot, itís a good time to examine whether the signature process is fair to those looking to become governor and for the residents who want them.

Ultimately, however, the responsibility remains on the candidates who decided to submit the signatures.

“You feel bad, but the candidates do have the ultimate responsibility,” says state Sen. Ruth Johnson, R-Holly, who is a former Secretary of State.

The Bureau found that 36 petition circulators had submitted wholly fraudulent petition sheets, with at least 68,000 invalid signatures in 10 sets of nominating positions. Their information has been turned over to investigators, and they should be prosecuted, Johnson says.

Former U.S. Rep. Candice Miller says the signature requirements are the first test of organization.

“If you’re going to run for governor, you have to have some sort of organization. You can either build one or you can buy one,” Miller says. “With Craig and Johnson, one was trying to build one, one was trying to buy one. They hired these fraudsters, thatís tough. Too bad.”

She emphasized the need to prosecute those who may have committed fraud, but she pointed out that lesser-known candidates like Garrett Soldano and Kevin Rinke didnít have problems.

Perry Johnson had recommended reforms to the signature-gathering process before the Board of Canvassersí review became public, including licensing petition-gathering firms and creating a service at the Secretary of Stateís office to verify signatures.

But Miller disagrees with the idea of expanding government to accommodate candidates who canít get enough signatures.

“We canít change the rules because they didnít know who to hire,” Miller says.

Political consultant John Sellek also pointed out that the system worked, likely keeping those without the requisite organizational skills away from the ballot this fall.

“I would argue first of all that the system worked,” Sellek says. “Candidates that didnít have the organization or support to collect the signatures, didnít get onto the ballot, that’s the cold, hard truth of the results, so maybe there isnít a need for a fix.”