A federal judge says an independent candidate for Michigan’s Attorney General might be able to go on the ballot. That is, if he has 5,000 valid signatures.
Current law says a candidate for Attorney General without a party affiliation must get at least 30,000 valid signatures to be on the ballot. Candidates with party affiliation, however, are nominated at party conventions.
Christopher Graveline tried to get the 30,000 signatures, but got less than half. He sued the state. And a federal judge says 30,000 is too high a requirement and the number has no real meaning behind it.
The state argued that it’s trying to protect the integrity of the election process by not having too many candidates on the ballot – that would confuse voters.
Graveline collected more than 14,000 signatures. If at least 5,000 of those are valid, as it stands now he can be on the November ballot.
The judge did not say whether the election laws are unconstitutional.
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—Cheyna Roth is a reporter for the Michigan Public Radio network. Contact WEMU News at734.487.3363 or email us at studio@wemu.org
