A candidate who had been seeking the nomination to represent a portion of Livingston County in Lansing has appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court a decision to drop him from the August primary ballot.
On May 17, the Michigan Department of State (SOS) issued letters to 15 candidates that they were being disqualified from the August 2, 2022, Primary Election ballot because of defects on their affidavit of identity.
Included on that list was Chase Turner of Northville, who had been seeking the GOP nomination for the 49th State House district that includes Green Oak and Brighton townships as well as the City of Brighton in Livingston County, along with a slice of Oakland County that extends eastward through Lyon Township into Wixom and then on to Walled Lake.
The SOS says Turner was disqualified because of false statements regarding his compliance with the Michigan Campaign Finance Act, which turned out to be an unpaid $1,000 fine from August 2021.
Turner, who has said he did not know about the unpaid campaign fines at the time he signed the affidavit, was turned down last week by the Michigan Court of Appeals, which said it did not matter whether Turner actually knew about the unpaid fine as the law made him responsible for the accuracy of the affidavit he signed.
Records show that Turner appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court on Friday.
Michigan Election Law requires candidates filing for office to state that “as of the date of the affidavit, all statements, reports, late filing fees, and fines required of the candidate or any candidate committee organized to support the candidate’s election under the Michigan campaign finance act … have been filed or paid.”
The Election Law also states that “An officer shall not certify … the name of a candidate who executes an affidavit of identity that contains a false statement.”
Turner has said his priority is not to actually get back on the ballot, but instead to ensure a similar situation was not repeated in the future.
The only other Republican in that race is current 42nd District State Representative Ann Bollin of Brighton Township.
As it stands now, Bollin and Brighton Township photographer Christina Kafkakis will face off for the seat in November, as Kafkakis is the lone Democrat running for that spot.
