Man gets 30 days in jail for election forgery

GRAND HAVEN (AP) — A man who tried to get a judicial candidate on a western Michigan ballot in 2012 with forged signatures has been sentenced to 30 days in jail.

An Ottawa County judge also sentenced Brandon Michael Hall to 18 months of probation Tuesday.

The Grand Haven Tribune reports Hall was convicted in November on 10 counts of election law forgery for forging signatures on petitions seeking to add then-judicial candidate Chris Houghtaling to the ballot.

Before his sentencing the 27-year-old Grand Haven man called his actions “the most ignorant thing I’ve ever done.”

Hall was charged in 2013 with 10 felony forgery counts. He appealed to the Michigan Court of Appeals, which ruled that misdemeanor charges seemed appropriate.

The Michigan Supreme Court later determined the case qualified as a felony.