WASHINGTON _ John Conyers III, the son of former U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., will not appear on the Aug. 7 Democratic primary ballot to replace his father in Congress, Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett decided Monday.
The decision, which could be final, was largely based on an earlier review of nominating petition signatures submitted by the younger Conyers that showed him to be short of the 1,000 signatures of registered voters in the district required for his name to appear on the ballot.
It was not immediately known whether Conyers would try to challenge the decision by legal means, or attempt a write-in campaign. However, with so many names already on the ballot _ seven people, including a cousin, state Sen. Ian Conyers of Detroit, are expected to be listed _ a write-in campaign would have little chance of success.
John Conyers III did not respond to email or Twitter requests for comment.
A challenge was filed on behalf of Ian Conyers, a first-term state senator, questioning the validity of the other Conyers' petition signatures but a staff report by Garrett's staff a week ago had already suggested that he didn't have enough valid signatures, with hundreds of names linked to people either not registered to vote or not living in the congressional district.
John Conyers III sought to run for both the brief remainder of his father's term (there will be about two months left after the election is held in November) and a full two-year term to begin in January. But Garrett said Monday that only 894 of the 1,905 signatures submitted for the partial term were valid, and 943 of the 1,914 signatures submitted for the full term were valid.
On Friday, Garrett said she would reconsider the staff recommendation that John Conyers III be left off the ballot after he sent her a letter claiming that many of the signatures deemed invalid should not have been thrown out and suggesting that someone in the clerk's office had wrongly "refused" to accept several other pages of signatures.
State election law limits the number of signatures that can be submitted to 2,000.
A lawyer for Ian Conyers, Peter Ruddell, sent a letter to Garrett Monday calling on her to declare John Conyers III ineligible for the ballot immediately, saying his reconsideration request "is a submission solely designed to cause delay (and) ... has no basis in Michigan law."
Garrett said a review of the signatures led to some being deemed valid but not enough to qualify him for the ballot. She noted in her letter to him, however, that he could ask the Michigan secretary of state to review that decision or challenge it in court.
John Conyers Jr., a civil rights legend who was first elected in 1964, resigned in December as the most senior active member of Congress after he was accused of acting inappropriately with female members of his staff, allegations he has denied. At the time of his resignation, Conyers, now 89, endorsed his 28-year-old son John III to replace him.
John Conyers III has not held elected office but, because of his name and its standing in the community was still expected to be a factor in the primary race, which is all but certain to determine who takes the seat in an overwhelmingly Democratic district.
