Opinion ID: 4558221
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Michigan’s Ballot-Access Laws

Text: Kishore and Santa Cruz are the Socialist Equality Party’s candidates for president and vice president. To appear as independent candidates on the ballot in Michigan, they must file a qualifying petition containing a sufficient number of valid signatures. See Mich. Comp. Laws §§ 168.590a(2), 168.590b(2). In normal circumstances, Kishore and Santa Cruz would have to obtain at least 30,000 valid signatures of registered voters, Mich. Comp. Laws § 168.544f, with at least 100 signatures from registered voters in at least one-half of the fourteen congressional districts in Michigan, Mich. Comp. Laws § 168.590b(4). However, a district court in Michigan permanently enjoined the State from enforcing these signature requirements against independent candidates. See Graveline v. Benson, 430 F. Supp. 3d 297, 318 (E.D. Mich. 2019). The district court in Graveline ordered, as an interim measure, that the signature requirements for independent candidates be reduced to 12,000.1 Id. The qualifying petition was due on July 16, Mich. Comp. Laws § 168.590c(2), and signatures could not be more than 180 days old when the petition was filed, Mich. Comp. Laws § 168.590b(3). Therefore, Plaintiffs could gather signatures between January 18, 2020 and July 16, 2020.