Around New England

Deval Patrick Won’t Be On Michigan Primary Ballot

December 28, 2019

Former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick will not appear on the Democratic Party’s ballot in the 2020 presidential primary in Michigan.

As MassLive.com reports, Patrick filed more than 13,000 signatures to appear on the March 10 ballot in the state, which is more than the 11,345 signatures needed to appear on the ballot.

However, among the signatures the Patrick campaign filed on December 13, the state deemed more than 5,000 signatures invalid. Reasons why signatures did not count include missing dates and addresses from signees.

Additionally, the state of Michigan’s report said that 474 signatures were “of dubious authenticity where the signature appeared to be written in handwriting that was substantially the same as handwriting for multiple petition entries.”

State officials analyzing the signatures found the same name, date, and address used three times with the same handwriting. They found another where someone signed twice under the same address.

On Friday morning, Michigan’s Board of State Canvassers voted 4-0 to concur that Patrick only received 8,660 valid signatures — nearly 3,000 less than the amount needed to appear on the ballot, as CNN reports.

Aleigha Cavalier, Patrick’s communications director, told MassLive.com, “our campaign was forced to collect more signatures than any other campaign, and did so. Michiganders deserve to be able to choose from their full range of choices for President, and we’re weighing our options to ensure that Deval Patrick is on the ballot in Michigan on March 10.”

According to the Associated Press, Patrick would have automatically qualified to be on the ballot had he announced his presidential run just a few days earlier than he did. Patrick announced on November 14. The Michigan Secretary of State’s deadline was November 8, and the chairman of the state Democratic Party in Michigan could have added names as late as November 12 — two days before Patrick jumped into the race.