Wayne County clerk: Conyers won't be on August ballot

[SpartanDem]

Last edited Wed May 14, 2014, 10:13 AM - Edit history (1)

Source: Detroit Free Press

Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett said longtime U.S. Rep. John Conyers will not be allowed on the August 5 primary ballot after a majority of signatures turned in to certify him for a 26th term were invalidated.

Garrett released a statement late Tuesday afternoon on the matter, saying her decision on Conyers’ 13th District certification was made by state elections law.

“It is a very unfortunate circumstance that an issue with a circulator of a petition would disqualify the signature of valid registered voter,” Garrett said in the statement. “Although I am not the final arbiter, I eagerly await the courts’ review of the constitutionality of the laws and statutes pertaining to petition circulators.”

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, with more than 1,400 of the 2,000 signatures now being called invalid. Attorneys for Conyers said last week that they’re waiting to see Garrett’s determination before saying what their next steps will be. Conyers, who late last week tapped state Sen. Bert Johnson, D-Highland Park, to run his campaign, has until June 6 to get on the ballot.

Read more: http://www.freep.com/article/20140513/NEWS05/305130116/John-Conyers-Cathy-Garrett-signatures

[lostincalifornia]

1. Someone screwed up big time on this. What will happen if a write in for Conyers is done? Can a

write in candidate win if they get more votes?

[former9thward]

2. Yes, a write in can win.

Not easy but it can be done. Some of it depends on how strict the voting jurisdiction is. Some demand the name be spelled exactly. Others allow some leeway and look at voter's intent.

[leftyohiolib]

4. it happened in alaska

[lostincalifornia]

12. Then they should start mobilizing I would think

[MrScorpio]

16. You bet...

I'm sure that's how he'll play it. Win the primary with write votes and take the general in November.

[George II]

3. Unfortunately, despite the fact that I think he's one of the best ever in....

....Congress, she did the right thing. Had she allowed those signatures, this could have really screwed up the atmosphere after the primary when Conyers won. But, knowing how well the democrats in the Detroit area are organized, I would almost bet that they get enough write-in votes to give Conyers the nomination. I'm sure they're mobilizing the "troops" already.

[Comrade Grumpy]

5. Will he run as an independent? And if so, will DU support him? Hmmm...

[iandhr]

6. As someone who has gathered signatures in many states for Dems...

… if you can't collect enough valid signatures to get on the ballot as a 40 year incumbent you don't deserve to be on.

[MADem]

10. It's not HIM--it's whoever was doing the work for him.

They must have forged the signatures; they didn't care about the guy.

People would sign for him--that's not the problem. The problem is slobs who don't want to stand out in front of the grocery in the rain asking for the signatures.

[kristopher]

13. They didn't forge signatures.

Persons collecting signatures are required to be registered themselves. The person who collected the ones that were disqualified was found to not be registered.

[okaawhatever]

14. But they're taking this to court because I think SCOTUS has previously ruled that there should

be no requirement for the person collecting the signatures to be registered. (1A violation) Also, one of the collecters had applied and there was a hold up or delay in getting it processed. It all sounds kind of fishy, I'm going to side with Conyers until I know more.

[yurbud]

22. Sounds like a backdoor attempt to get him out

[Retrograde]

33. If you can't win in a fair contest

the lie, steal and cheat: this seems to be the Republican way these days.

[MADem]

20. Well, that sounds to me like a person is being forced to be a voter in order to

participate in the process which does not seem fair to me at all. I hope the ACLU can prevail. Representatives represent EVERYONE, children, people with green cards who live in the district, not just registered voters.

I didn't think that the signatures were forged, I was responding to the previous poster who averred that if they couldn't get sufficient signatures...blah blah blah.

If the ONLY issue still before them is the registration status of the collector of the signatures, he might have a shot.

[okaawhatever]

24. Also, he has an election attorney who has stated publicly that they have proof both individuals

registered in December, not April. Apparently there was some sort of "delay" processing the request. That was mentioned early on and now that an attorney is saying publicly that they have proof of the application it sounds reasonable. His challenger has already jumped all over this, which makes me suspicious as well. I expect them to take advantage of anyone's bad press, but not knowing how this will turn out makes me question why he'd come after him so early.
Also remember, one of the individuals in question has been doing this for him for 40 years. Hmmm.....

[notadmblnd]

21. it's my understanding the issue is over if those collecting signatures are registered voters

Apparently, there is some requirement that says- those collecting the signatures have to be registered voters. I understand that two were not so signatures collected by those people were disallowed.

I've also heard that there are questions on whether this requirement is constitutional so last I heard it was being contested.

[MADem]

32. You don't have to be a registered voter to be represented by a congressman.

I think the requirement that the people collecting the signatures be registered voters can be overcome with the right argument....

[Exultant Democracy]

34. He hired the people working for him. It goes to competency and judgment.

[MADem]

35. The odds are good to excellent he had nothing to do with those signature gatherers.

Either his Chief of Staff, or the manager of his local office, likely made those arrangements. And the odds are good to excellent that there's never been an issue like this raised previously.

The man is being targeted--it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out.

[Exultant Democracy]

36. And who hired his chief of staff? I like the guy, but I'm sorry your campaign is your responsibility

[MADem]

37. He did--and he's probably been with the same guy for years, now.

Someone screwed up, of that there is no doubt. Was it the chief of staff, was it the manager of his home district office, who knows? I can tell you that someone of Conyers' seniority and stature isn't running around interviewing signature gatherers. He just isn't. At some point, particularly with someone like Conyers, who has a vast array of committee assignments and responsibilities, delegation happens.

I would hate to see him knocked out on a technicality, particularly if the signatures on those forms are all entirely valid. Further, if his collectors were registered and someone "disappeared" their paperwork, I'd be very concerned. If someone was willing to pay for that to happen, they'd do anything. And they're not just doing it to John Conyers.

Moreover, it looks like someone is enforcing a "law" that is no longer valid. One has to wonder why....!

At any rate, he's joined a federal lawsuit to try and fix this mess:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/16/john-conyers-lawsuit_n_5336861.html

DETROIT (AP) — Longtime Michigan Congressman John Conyers joined a federal lawsuit Thursday taking aim at the requirement that petition collectors be registered voters, as part of a larger challenge to an order removing his name from the primary ballot in August.

Conyers, who was first elected to the House in 1964 and represents a district including Detroit and several suburbs, joined the suit two days after Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett determined he didn't have enough signatures to appear on the Aug. 5 Democratic primary ballot. She found Conyers was more than 400 signatures short of 1,000 needed.

The suit was filed against Garrett and Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson by the American Civil Liberties Union's Michigan chapter on behalf of two petition circulators and others. The signatures they gathered weren't counted because they hadn't complied with state voter registration requirements.

The ACLU also asked the court to order Garrett and Johnson to stop enforcing the law, which the group deems unconstitutional. A hearing is planned for Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit.

Johnson's office declined comment. Garrett said in a statement earlier this week that it was "a very unfortunate circumstance" but she was "bound by the current laws and statutes of the state of Michigan."

Under state law, people who circulate nominating petitions to get candidates on primary election ballots must be registered voters. However, according to the ACLU's lawsuit, Michigan lawmakers last month amended the law to eliminate voter registration requirement for those circulating ballot initiative and referendum petitions and qualifying petitions for several statewide offices.

[mopinko]

25. yeah, i gotta wonder

i mean, yeah, he needed x signatures, but you get out there and do it to touch the voters. after all that time, he should have it on autopilot to get a whole lot more signatures than that. that is a damn low bar.

[MADem]

7. Best way to do a write in is with stickers if the local voting authority allows it.

Distribute stickers to the registered voters, have them bring them to the polls and transfer them to the ballot--that way there are no lost votes due to name misspellings or anything of that nature.

This SO sucks if this long serving rep got screwed over by bad signatures, sloppy workers, or incompetent/illegal actions. As I said elsewhere, though, this is a cautionary tale--ya always have to get WAY WAY WAY more signatures than you need, and you need your BEST people working on that, the ones that are the most reliable, the most meticulous, and the most dedicated.

[Why Syzygy]

8. Roll Call story

http://atr.rollcall.com/john-conyers-does-not-qualify-for-primary-ballot/

[SoCalMusicLover]

9. Could He Have Easily Prevented This?

To everybody now saying, oh it's no big deal, he can get the nomination as a write-in, and his troops will now mobilize to get that accomplished. Sure....that's the situation he has to manage now, and I can't imagine that it will be easily done, or a slam dunk.

What I'm curious about is whether he was just really completely careless and clueless as to what was going on, and if this is something which as a candidate for high office, he should have been on top of, and which was an easy enough requirement to fulfill.

I can't imagine that it's too difficult getting 2,000 valid signatures in a district, especially when you are the longtime incumbent.

I do feel bad for him, because perhaps the person he hired is at fault, but that does not seem to be a valid excuse. I am a CPA, and although if I failed to file a client's taxes, he could hold me responsible, ultimately he would still find himself subjected to penalties by the IRS for not filing.

[MADem]

11. He trusted someone he should not have trusted.

He's been doing this for four decades--it's never been a problem before.

I don't think he was careless, he just misplaced his trust. I doubt he'll do that again.

This IS a big deal for him, and for anyone voting for him--AND for anyone running his campaign. He will have to take extra steps, as will his campaign staff, and the voters as well. It's unfortunate.

[PatrynXX]

15. other than using a freep link. aclu is countering the Michigan law is unconstitutional

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140512/METRO/305120120/ACLU-Mich-law-bars-Conyers-from-ballot-unconstitutional

[okaawhatever]

18. I posted a link with additional info as well. The Conyers campaign hired an election attorney who

says he has proof that they submitted their voter registrations in December, not April like the county clerk said. They're willing to go to court so it sounds reasonable. Also, there were two companies hired to do this so I imagine they would have handled the basics like getting the petition signers registered to vote.

[okaawhatever]

19. The Freep link is actually the Detroit Free Press not Free Republic. I thought it was the rw site

as well.

[okaawhatever]

17. More info and background. It's not as simple as the story above.

The reason the clerk invalidated the signatures of Pennington and another 80 signatures by Detroiter Tiara Willis-Pittman is because they were not deemed registered voters at the time they circulated Conyers’ petitions, as required in Michigan.

Conyers paid two consultants this year to hire petition circulators and get him on the ballot. Ronin America, consultant Steve Hood’s firm, was paid $8,500, and Skip Mongo — the brother of political consultant Adolph Mongo, who is working for Conyers’ Democratic challenger the Rev. Horace Sheffield — was paid $3,000 for signature collection work, federal campaign records show.

Lansing-based pollster Ed Sarpolus, who helped run Conyers’ campaign in 2012, said both vendors are longtime associates of Conyers who failed to sufficiently vet the circulators.

“The people who he’s trusted for a long time did him in,” Sarpolus said. “... How did they not catch that?”

It’s not illegal for those with criminal records to collect signatures, so Pennington’s voter registration status remains a critical issue for whether Conyers qualifies for the ballot. The Conyers campaign has insisted it has the paperwork showing Pennington and Willis-Pittman submitted their voter registration papers on Dec. 13 — not on April 28, as state records show.

“We are prepared to put forward evidence and testimony before the Wayne County Clerk’s office and the Michigan Secretary of State to verify their registration status,” said John Pirich, an election law expert, said in a statement last Friday released by Conyers’ office.



From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140508/POLITICS03/305080130#ixzz31dXdfAfx

[herding cats]

30. No, it's not.

This whole thing is just heartbreaking on his behalf. He trusted someone he shouldn't have is now in a world of mess.

I hope it gets settled, but in today's political environment I'm not holding my breath. He's a good man and a great congressman. For all his years of service he deserved better.

[scarletwoman]

23. Excuse my ignorance, but why in the world would an incumbent need signatures to be put on a ballot?

That just seems crazy to me.

How the hell did Detroit/Michigan end up with a law like that? Is this common in other states?

[iandhr]

27. In NY it is. In MA it is.

Not sure about other sates

[scarletwoman]

28. Wow, that just seems so weird to me!

I'm in Minnesota, I've never before heard of such a thing!

[MADem]

31. You're quite right. nt

[Still Sensible]

26. Big time screw up! n/t

[elias49]

29. This is just so pathetic! nt