Update -- Friday, 5:30 p.m.: Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett said Friday she has disqualified the signatures from two petition circulators for U.S. Rep. John Conyers, and therefore, he does not have enough signatures to run, the Detroit News reports. Conyers said the preliminary decision will not stop from remaining on the Aug. 5 primary ballot.
Two petition collectors for U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, do not appear as registered voters in Michigan, according to a Detroit News search of the state’s qualified voter list.
In addition, report Marisa Schultz and Christine MacDonald, the initial two Conyers’ petition circulators challenged by primary opponent Rev. Horace Sheffield were marked in state records as having been registered on Monday — more than a week after Conyers’ campaign turned in the petition signatures.
These are the latest development into Conyers’ efforts to secure a 26th term in office and Sheffield’s effort to keep the liberal icon off the Aug. 5 primary ballot.
The lack of voter registration for two more petition collectors from Detroit may cast into doubt another 211 signatures gathered for Conyers, who currently has 1,193 valid signatures and needs 1,000 to remain on the ballot. But one petition circulator has the same name as several other Detroiters whom the state shows as registered voters, meaning there is a possibility he is registered at a different address than the one listed on his petitions.
Conyers' wife, Monica Conyers, turned in 12 signatures on her petition sheet dated March 19, including herself and her son, Carl Conyers. The final signature on the form was John Conyers himself.
Monica Conyers, the former president of the Detroit City Council, was released from prison in September after serving a 37-month sentence for bribery at a federal women’s prison camp in Alderson, W.Va.
