A technicality could leave Democrats with no candidate on the primary ballot for northern Michigan’s congressional district.
State election officials say Traverse City Democrat Matt Morgan made an error on the forms used to gather signatures. Most of the sheets listed the campaign’s post office box instead of a required street address.
A Bureau of Elections spokesman says the department has recommended that the Board of State Canvassers reject the signatures.
The board will likely meet later this month. If it rejects the signatures, it would keep Morgan from being listed on the August primary ballot.
Morgan says the campaign will challenge the ruling in court if necessary.
“I am an eligible candidate to run in this district and we have the requisite number of signatures from registered voters in the 32 counties of northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula,” Morgan says. “So we do not believe that this minor issue regarding an address should be grounds to keep us off the primary ballot.”
Morgan says he’ll begin a write-in campaign for the primary if needed. He’s challenging Republican incumbent Rep. Jack Bergman in Michigan’s 1st District.
“I think it’s really important for us to remain focused on the race in November,” Morgan says. “We’re going to be on the ballot. … We just need to win the primary and we’ve got a path to do it.”