A federal district judge on Sunday overturned state law governing independent candidates’ access to the ballot and lowered the signature threshold for qualification in 2020.
Michigan Eastern District Judge Victoria Roberts ruled that the state’s ballot access requirements were “severely burdensome” to Christopher Graveline, other independent candidates seeking statewide office and voters who wished to vote for them. She granted Graveline a permanent injunction that lowers the signature threshold for future independent candidates seeking state office in Michigan.
The set of rules governing the number of signatures, where they’re gathered and when they are submitted is unconstitutional, Roberts said in her Sunday opinion.
Until the Legislature draws up new rules, she said, an independent candidate for statewide office can qualify with just 12,000 signatures instead of 30,000.