• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • News
  • Events
  • Donate
  • About
  • Contact

The Ballenger Report

Bill Ballenger: #1 Political Pundit in Michigan
All the Truth, All the Time
Michigan's Only "No Spin Zone"
Who is Running for What? Who Will Win?
Can Democrats Seize Total Control of Michigan Government in 2022?
Flint Water Crisis: What's Really Going On!
Politicians
Politicians
You are here: Home / Uncategorized / CANDIDATES BARRED FROM BALLOT BY CORONAVIRUS — UNLESS THE LEGISLATURE ACTS

CANDIDATES BARRED FROM BALLOT BY CORONAVIRUS — UNLESS THE LEGISLATURE ACTS

March 25, 2020 by tbreport 7 Comments

LANSING, STATE CAPITOL:

Another unintended consequence of Coronavirus, and nobody is paying attention.

Surely, there must be a bill in the legislative hopper to allow candidates for Congress and the judiciary to qualify to run this year by paying a filing fee instead of collecting signatures, right?

If not, somebody must have tipped off some of the candidates that help is on the way. Otherwise, they would be screaming for action.But, so far, crickets.

Under Michigan law, the only candidates who cannot get on the ballot by paying a filing fee are:
  • Governor
  • US Senate
  • Congress
  • Judicial offices  (other than incumbents in any office, and candidates for Supreme Court)
But, obviously, right now, in the midst of a pandemic statewide lockdown, it’s IMPOSSIBLE to collect signatures.  So how can anybody run for Court of Appeals (6,200 signatures minimum)?  Or Congress?
Except for people who have already collected theirs (mainly incumbents), there’s no path forward to April 21.
Even for relatively low-level judicial candidates (district court et al.) who need just a few hundred, it is turning into a nightmare.  Political observers keep telling the hapless would-be judges that the Legislature is bound to act to correct an obvious injustice, but it would be a lot more convincing if anyone, anywhere could cite a bill number.
Perhaps Gov. Gretchen Whitmer could issue another of her executive orders for which she is becoming increasingly well-known. Or the state’s top election official, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, could step in. Both women are lawyers, but there is no sign yet that either one is aware of the looming debacle.

Something also will have to be done for third parties and independent candidates, or else certainly the federal courts will be brought into action.

Stay tuned!

************************************************

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sara Basso says

    March 25, 2020 at 11:57 pm

    Good point Bill!

    Reply
  2. J.Dallas Winegarden Jr. says

    March 26, 2020 at 1:31 am

    YIKES ! How about not filling the positions for 1 Year ? Except by appointment ?
    Now you’re talking . Great point Bill.

    Reply
  3. Steve Mitchell says

    March 26, 2020 at 9:44 am

    Spot-on as always!

    Reply
  4. Walt Sorg says

    March 26, 2020 at 10:33 am

    Excellent point. And the same challenge faces ballot proposal committees. Gathering 500,000 or more signatures in 180 days to get on the ballot is incredibly challenging even under the most favorable circumstances. The Legislature which, admittedly, is not fond of direct democracy should 1) expand the 180-day limit and 2) make provisions for signing petitions online.

    Reply
  5. Ed Haynor says

    March 26, 2020 at 11:27 am

    During this extraordinary time, Mr. Ballenger makes an important point regarding upcoming elections, but his statement, “Under Michigan law, the only candidates who cannot get on the ballot by paying a filing fee are Governor, U.S. Senate, Congress and some Judicial offices,” is not exactly true. According to Act 116 of 1954. CHAPTER XIV. SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY COLLEGE ELECTIONS, “(8) Instead of filing nominating petitions, a candidate for school board member may pay a nonrefundable filing fee of $100.00 to the school district filing official. If this fee is paid by the due date for a nominating petition, the payment has the same effect under this section as the filing of a nominating petition.”

    Reply
    • Ryan Berman says

      March 26, 2020 at 4:03 pm

      The positions Mr. Ballenger noted ONLY have the choice to file petitions. Most all other candidates have the option to pay a filing fee instead, just like the candidates/section you referenced.

      For judicial candidates, HB5609 was submitted earlier this month to allow those judicial candidates to pay a non-refundable filing fee in lieu of filing nominating petitions.

      Reply
  6. Martin Church says

    March 30, 2020 at 6:51 pm

    Glad I am already filed and on ballot 54 state house. Mi house and senate can fill with filling fee same with county commissioner for washtenaw county.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Newsletter Sign-up

Receive The Ballenger Report in your inbox!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Follow on twitter

Tweets by @Bill_Ballenger
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Upcoming Ballenger Events

  • No events
  • © 2023 · The Ballenger Report · Login · Sitemap

    Support The Ballenger Report - Contribute Today!

    Thank you for visiting! You have let us know that what we produce about Michigan politics and government matters to you. More people than ever are reading and listening to what we put on our news site, and the 2022 election was especially momentous. Your support makes all the difference.

    As you know, unlike many news websites, we haven’t put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism as open as we can, but we need to ask for your help. We are editorially independent, meaning we set our own agenda. Our journalism remains truly free from commercial influence or bias. We are not subsidized. We don’t put up paid advertisements. No one edits our Editor. No one steers our opinion.

    But The Ballenger Report (TBR) takes time, money and hard work to produce. If everyone who reads or listens to our material — and likes it! — helps to support it, our future would be much more secure.

    Whatever you might want to contribute will help TBR continue. Thank you.

    Contribute to The Ballenger Report