Hollier’s appeal of congressional ballot disqualification denied 

State Sen Adam Hollier (D-Detroit) | Ken Coleman photo

An appeal filed by former state Sen. Adam Hollier (D-Detroit) on his disqualification from the August primary ballot for the 13th Congressional District has been denied.

According to a letter Thursday from Michigan Director of Elections Jonathan Brater, he said he was “adopting” the previous finding by Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett that Hollier had less than the 1,000 valid signatures needed to make the ballot,

Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Detroit) | Laina G. Stebbins

Garrett had been acting on a petition challenge mounted by U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Detroit), the first-term incumbent. According to the letter, Hollier claimed that due to the substantial “fraud and forgery” present in his nominating petitions, Wayne County should review the nominating petitions filed by his opponents, including Thanedar.

“In other words, you attempt to submit a challenge to your opponents’ nominating petitions,” wrote Brater, who noted that Michigan Election Law sets a seven day deadline to file.

“If you wished to submit challenges against your opponents, the deadline to submit them was April 30 (to the Wayne County Clerk, as the filing official for that office). To the extent your appeal is actually a challenge to other nominating petitions and was submitted untimely and to the wrong filing official, that aspect of your appeal is denied,” said Brater.

The initial determination by Garrett’s election staff found that only 863 of the 1,553 signatures submitted by Hollier were valid, leaving him 137 signatures short of the 1,000 needed to qualify for the ballot as a U.S. House candidate. Garrett then concurred and disqualified Hollier.

The signatures were collected by Londell Thomas of Harper Woods, a paid circulator and co-owner of Groundmind Strategies in Southfield. While Hollier had called Thanedar’s challenge a “bad faith” effort, he nonetheless admitted that the signatures Thomas turned in on his behalf appeared to have been forged.

Brater also rejected Brater’s contention that Wayne County should not have accepted the initial challenge as it was brought under a section of state election law that applies to candidates filing with the Secretary of State and not a county clerk. However, he said the first page of Thanedar’s challenge was correctly addressed to the Wayne County Clerk and correctly indicated it was being submitted under the correct statute.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan endorses Detroit Councilwoman Mary Waters for Congress 

“Therefore, there is no question that the challenge to your nominating petitions was submitted properly to the County Clerk,” Brater said. “Even if there were some question about the submission of the challenge, this office would not entertain an appeal of the filing official’s decision to accept a timely filed challenge; it would accept an appeal only of the determination on the nominating petitions’ sufficiency and your resulting qualification to the ballot. This aspect of the appeal is also denied.”

Brater indicated that his office has recommended for investigation and referral to law enforcement those petition sheets “showing clear indications of fraud.” So will the allegations Hollier made concerning the petitions of his opponents.

Earlier Thursday, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan endorsed Detroit City Councilwoman Mary Waters ahead of the Democratic primary in November.  Waters, a former state lawmaker, and attorney Shakira Lynn Hawkins are challenging Thanedar in the August primary. Republican Martell Bivings, who opposed Thanedar in the 2022 election, is the sole Republican seeking the primary. 

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