Adam Hollier Could Be Left Off the Ballot for the 13th District Race Because of Invalid Signatures

Former state senator Adam Hollier could find himself running as a write-in candidate in his race to dethrone the first-term U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar for the 13th Congressional District seat this fall. Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett’s election staff issued a report on Thursday, May 16, saying that 690 signatures collected by Hollier’s campaign were invalid for issues ranging from duplicate signatures to signatures from people not registered to vote. That left just 863 valid signatures — 137 signatures short of the 1,000 required for U.S. House candidates to qualify for the ballot. “We are obviously disappointed in this decision — not only for Adam, but for the voters across the 13th District who deserve a real choice in who their next Congressperson will be,” Hollier’s attorney Melvin Butch Hollowell read from a statement. “We are also incredibly troubled by the fact that, according to the Clerk’s staff report, 296 of the voters Rep. Thanedar tried to disqualify are in fact lawful electors.”& & Thanedar challenged nearly 800 signatures that Hollier’s campaign team submitted in time for the filing deadline to get Hollier added to the ballot. More than 100 of the challenged signatures turned out to be valid, but...