An election worker helps a voter with his ballot in Lansing, Mich., on Election Day, Nov. 3, 2020. (AP Photo/Matthew Dae Smith via Lansing State Journal)
CINCINNATI (CN) – The state of Michigan argued before an appeals court panel Wednesday that its signature and deadline requirements for independent candidates to get on the ballot are constitutional and a federal judge lacked authority to change them.
Christopher Graveline wanted to make a run for Michigan attorney general in 2018, but as an independent candidate. Under the state’s election laws, this required him to obtain at least 30,000 signatures in a six-month period leading up to the election and deploy “petition circulators” in half of Michigan’s congressional districts.