Judge puts U.S. Rep. Conyers back on primary ballot
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Decision nixes Secretary of State finding that Conyers did not have enough signatures.

U.S. Rep. John Conyers' on-again, off-again roller coaster ride for the Aug. 5 ballot took a new twist Friday when U.S. District Judge Matthew Leitman put him back on the ballot,

His decision, released late Friday, contradicts the Secretary of State's review of Conyers petition, which found earlier in the day that Conyers had less than half the required signatures of valid registered voters on the petitions he turned in to qualify for the Aug. 5 primary ballot.

But Leitman said the signatures from at least two ciruclators who were found to have not registered properly to vote, a requirement under state law, should be reinstated, giving Conyers enough valid signatures to be on the ballot.

"There is evidence that their failure to comply with the Registration Statute was the result of good faith mistakes and that they believed they were in compliance with the statute," Leitman said in his ruling.

"As Secretary (of State Ruth) Johnson implicitly acknowledged in her ruling issued today, if the signatures excluded pursuant to the Registration Statute may not be excluded from Mr. Conyers' total – and this Court holds that they may not be – then Mr. Conyers has enough signatures to qualify for placement on the ballot," Leitman added. "He shall be placed on the ballot."

The ruling ended a day in which the SOS confirmed a decision last week from Wayine County Clerk Cathy Garret that he didn't have enough signatures to qualify for the Aug. 5 primary ballot.

The SOS review concluded that petition signatures gathered by at least five circulators were invalid because they were either not registered to vote, not registered to vote while the petitions were being circulated or had addresses on the petitions that didn't match their voter registrations. As a result, the SOS ruled Conyers had only 455 valid signatures, far short of the 1,000 required by state law.

"The Michigan Election Law is designed to protect the purity of the ballot access process.," the SOS review states. "The laws governing this activity place affirmative duties on petition circulators. As evidenced over the past two election cycles, when campaigns fail to comply with the law by executing basic principles of petition circulation, they create their own "ballot access crisis" when their failures are discovered by or brought to the attention of election officials. In this instance, consultant Steve Hood freely admitted that he failed to ensure that the petition circulators he hired to work on Conyers' campaign were registered to vote."

At stake for Conyers, who is 85 and was first elected to Congress in 1964, was whether he would have a spot on the Aug. 5 primary ballot or will have to mount a costly write-in campaign. Leitman ruled that he must be certified for the ballot by May 29.

According to state law, Conyers had to turn in at least 1,000 valid signatures of registered voters in the 13th congressional district to get a spot on the ballot. Those signatures must be collected by people who also are registered voters.

Conyers turned in 2,000 signatures and more than 800 were disqualified for a variety or reasons, ranging from the signature wasn't from a registered voter or that voter didn't live in the district, the petition was misdated or contained an improper address.

The petitions provided "clear examples of the failure to follow the basics, something that thousands of campaigns have routinely done since 1966," the SOS review said.

Rev. Horace Sheffield, the Detroit Democrat who is running for Conyers' seat in Congress, challenged the petitions, arguing that many past candidates have been able to abide by the rules requiring petition cirulators be registered voters and that Conyers should too.

Another 644 signatures were thrown out by Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett because they were obtained by circulators who were either not registered voters or weren't properly registered to vote. As a result, Garrett ruled that Conyers had turned in only 592 valid signatures and she threw him off the ballot.

Conyers' campaign appealed that ruling to the Secretary of State. They claimed that two of the circulators had registered to vote at a registration fair in December and the registrations weren't recorded until April, after the petitions had been turned in. Two other circulators are registered voters, but their addresses on the petitions didn't match the address where they were registered to vote.

Along with that appeal, Conyers and the ACLU filed a lawsuit in circuit court questioning the constitutionality of the requirement that circulators be registered voters. The U.S. Supreme Court, as well as federal courts in Ohio and the western district of Michigan have ruled in cases with similar issues and have thrown out that requirement.

In addition, Michigan's Legislature passed a law earlier this year that said circulators of ballot proposals and inititatives petitions do not have to be registered voters in Michigan. Candidates for state office can either turn in petitions or pay a $100 filing, which is what most candidates choose. Incumbent judge get the best deal, merely having to file their intent to seek reelection, plus getting designated as an incumbent on the ballot. Non-incumbent judicial candidates have to get petition signatures ranging from 200 for some district courts to 4,000 for the biggest circuit courts.

State opposes John Conyers in lawsuit over nominating petitions
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Michigan Attorney General’s Office officials are asking a federal judge to deny a lawsuit by U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. seeking to have his name added to the Aug. 5 primary ballot.

In a response to the lawsuit, Bill Schuette said Secretary of State Ruth Johnson believes the lawsuit filed last week by the ACLU, and joined by Conyers, which challenges the constitutionality of having election petition circulators be registered voters, is moot, as her office has yet to decide whether Conyers should be allowed on the ballot.

Schuette also argues that Conyers should abide by the Michigan law that circulators be registered voters.

“Plaintiffs’ claim is potentially barred by mootness, lack of standing and they have not met the factors that justify the extraordinary relief they seek,” Schuette writes in the response, filed Tuesday.

A hearing on the matter is set for Wednesday in federal court in Detroit before U.S. District Judge Matthew Leitman.

Conyers, 85, joined the lawsuit Thursday, two days after Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett said the longtime congressman won’t appear on the Aug. 5 primary ballot after a majority of signatures turned in to certify him for a 26th term were invalidated. Garrett invalidated more than 1,400 signatures because five of Conyers’ eight petition circulators were not properly registered to vote. That action left Conyers with fewer than 600 valid signatures. A candidate needs 1,000 signatures to be placed on the ballot.

The other plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Ederl Edna Moore, Tiara Willis-Pittman and Chinita Terry — all Detroiters. Terry and Willis-Pittman had circulated nominating petitions for Conyers, only to learn that none of the signatures they collected would be counted because they were not properly registered to vote. Moore is a voter.

The defendants in the lawsuit are Wayne County Clerk Garrett and Secretary of State Johnson.

Schuette also wrote that the U.S. District Court decision is not in the public’s best interests, saying rules changes coming in the middle of the process would be unfair to voters. The move also would be unfair to candidates, Schuette wrote, who followed the law and complied with its requirements.

Questions arose late last month on a challenge from the Rev. Horace Sheffield, who also filed for the 13th District seat, about the validity of signatures Conyers’ campaign turned in to qualify for the ballot.

Political consultant Steve Hood has admitted that the missteps that have left Conyers’ ballot status in the air are his fault. Hood’s company was hired to collect the necessary signatures for the election petition.

The Secretary of State is in the process of reviewing Conyers’ petitions to see if there are any or enough signatures that can be reinstated so Conyers can get a place on the August primary ballot.

In the request for a review, Conyers’ attorney John Pirich said that Garrett disqualified the signatures collected by two people who were registered to vote, but not at the address listed on the petition. Those 395 signatures should be reinstated, Pirich said.

A firm hired by Pirich to review the petitions also found a number of signatures disqualified for a variety of reasons that should not have been, Pirich said in his request for a review.

The Secretary of State review must be done by June 6, but could be done sooner, said Gisgie Gendrea, spokeswoman for Secretary of State Ruth Johnson.

Contact Marlon A. Walker: 313-223-4531 or mwalker@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @marlonawalker.

Federal judge allowing longtime Congressman John Conyers Jr. to run in Democratic primary despite lacking signatures

The decision in Detroit federal court today came hours after Michigan’s secretary of state declined to put him on the ballot because he provided less than half the required valid signatures on his nominating petitions.

BLOOMBERG / Friday, May 23, 2014, 10:39 PM

John Conyers Jr., a member of the U.S. House of Representatives since Lyndon Johnson was President, will have his name on the ballot for an Aug. 5 Democratic primary, a federal judge ruled.

The decision in Detroit federal court today came hours after Michigan’s secretary of state declined to put him on the ballot because he provided less than half the required valid signatures on his nominating petitions.