Independent presidential hopeful Cornel West gets on Michigan ballot; legal fight not over

Lansing — Independent presidential candidate Cornel West was certified Monday to appear on Michigan’s ballot even as litigation is working its way through court challenging his eligibility.

The Michigan Board of State Canvassers voted 3-1 to certify the liberal activist, author and academic for the Nov. 5 general election ballot despite allegations that circulator signatures had been forged in the sample examined by the Bureau of Elections.

Attorney Mark Brewer, who is representing a voter challenging the signatures, said he planned to appeal Monday’s decision. A separate appeal already is pending in the Court of Appeals challenging West’s eligibility based on alleged deficiencies in his affidavit of identity.

“The board of canvassers just put a forger on the ballot,” Brewer said after the three-hour meeting Monday.

At issue in Monday’s meeting were questions about the signatures of the individuals circulating the nominating petition that voters signed to get West on the ballot.

Brewer listed seven circulators whose signatures he said were forged, pointing to differences in handwriting among the different pages signed by the circulators.

Michigan’s elections bureau, which had determined there were enough signatures and had recommended certification, said the procedures they had in place did not require or set out a process for comparing circulator signatures. But even if it were the case that those circulator signatures were fraudulent and their sheets thrown out, West would still have enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, state Elections Director Jonathan Brater said.

Brewer had maintained that between the circulator challenges and challenges against individual voter signatures, there were enough for West to fall short of the threshold needed for certification.

The Michigan Bureau of Elections had disqualified West earlier this month because of problems with the way West’s affidavit of identity was notarized.

Court of Claims Judge James Robert Redford on Saturday overruled the bureau, arguing that West was not required to file an affidavit of identity in the first place because he submitted the requisite number of legitimate signatures.

The decision was appealed Sunday to the Michigan Court of Appeals.

eleblanc@detroitnews.com