FLINT, Mich. (AP) - A Genesee County Circuit Court judge or federal judge may be asked to allow Flint to put the names of mayoral candidates on the primary election ballot after a clerk’s error, The Flint Journal reported (https://bit.ly/1bXDbqQ ) Monday.
City officials said at a news conference that without a court’s intervention the August primary will be skipped and all candidates will have to file as write-ins for the general election in November.
State elections officials have said Flint Clerk Inez Brown mistakenly told candidates their nominating petitions with at least 900 valid signatures were due by April 28. The actual deadline was April 21.
State law doesn’t permit a clerk to extend a deadline.
Mayor Dayne Walling, Councilman Wantwaz Davis and businesswoman Karen Weaver turned their petitions in after the actual deadline. Councilman Eric Mays filed on April 6, but didn’t have enough valid signatures.
Two City Council seats also are up for election this year.
Because of the error, state law requires the candidates to be write-ins, said City Administrator Natasha Henderson said.
“We would like … all of the names on the ballot,” she added.
City Attorney Peter Bade said Flint has retained an outside attorney to handle the matter.
“We want to ensure the integrity of the electoral process and to that end, I think our Secretary of State has been absolutely on point to ensure the integrity of the process,” Bade said. “But by the same token, the integrity of the process isn’t helped if our voters feel that incompetence or a mistake invalidates the petitions that they’ve signed.”
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Information from: The Flint Journal, https://www.mlive.com/flint
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