On December 23, the Michigan Secretary of State determined that the petition to get Deval Patrick on the Democratic presidential primary lacks enough valid signatures. The requirement is 11,345. Patrick submitted 13,777, but not enough were valid. See the Secretary of State’s letter here.
Patrick needed a petition because he didn’t declare for the presidential nomination until November 14, 2019. The deadline for the Secretary of State to decide which candidates are mentioned in the media was November 12. That deadline seems unnecessarily early. The only super-Tuesday states with an earlier deadline are Alabama and Arkansas. Thanks to several people for this news.
media mention machination = VOID for VAGUENESS–
one more perversion of Democracy by the HACKS in control.
NOM pets ONLY for ballot access.
The November 12 deadline was for the Democratic Party to send their list.
The DNC bylaws call for the filing deadline to be no earlier than 75 days prior to the primary (December 26), and if not for the Michigan Democratic Party to affirmatively advocate for change. The New Hampshire primary is 4 weeks before the Michigan primary, and Patrick was able to qualify there.
It was quite likely that the Michigan Democratic Party and Democratic voters would have entered into political association with Patrick but for the arbitrary state deadline. Four of the candidates listed by the Democratic Party have already withdrawn: Bullock, Harris, Messam, and Sestak.
The alternative petition standard of 11,443 is almost as great as the statewide requirement of 12,000 for independent candidates recently set by a federal district court even though it is recognized that only Democrats are likely to sign a Patrick petition (11,443 is 1/2 of 1% of the 2016 Clinton vote).
The Michigan Democratic Party and Patrick should sue the governor and SOS.
Interestingly enough, the Governor and SOS are both Democrats.
@MV,
They could choose not to defend the law. If the AG attempted to do so, they could hire their own lawyer. They could also not appeal the Graveline decision.
Mich Prez primary [mere 2012 UNCON law] =
One LARGE subversion of Mich Const Art II, Sec. 4 —
ARTICLE II
ELECTIONS
Sec. 4. (1) Every citizen of the United States who is an elector qualified to vote in Michigan shall have the following rights:
(a) The right, once registered, to vote [[[ a secret ballot in all elections ]]].
******
All rights set forth in this subsection shall be self-executing. This subsection shall be liberally construed in favor of voters’ rights in order to effectuate its purposes. ******
(2) Except as otherwise provided in this constitution or in the constitution or laws of the United States the legislature shall enact laws to regulate the time, place and manner of all nominations and elections, to preserve the purity of elections, [[[ to preserve the secrecy of the ballot ]]], to guard against abuses of the elective franchise, and to provide for a system of voter registration and absentee voting. ******
Too many corrupt LAWLESS HACKS in Mich to count — HACK Guv down to HACK local election clerks.