(WWJ) – Republican gubernatorial hopeful Perry Johnson has filed a lawsuit in US District Court in Detroit, asking state officials to immediately cease printing ballots for the August primary election, as he appeals the decision to keep him off the ballot.
Johnson is one of five candidates to be deemed ineligible for the primary election after the Michigan Bureau of Elections reported they didn’t collect enough valid ballot petition signatures. The Board of State Canvassers then upheld the decision in a 2-2 vote split among party lines, leading to court battles for multiple candidates.
The Michigan Supreme Court declined to hear Johnson’s case, and he’s now taking it to the federal level. In addition to seeking the halt of printing ballots, the lawsuit is also asking the court to lower the threshold for signatures or add his name to the ballot.
Johnson, an Oakland County businessman, spoke live on WWJ Tuesday afternoon and said the state would not show him the signatures that were deemed invalid, saying justice is not served by keeping him off the ballot.
“They will be accountable. And if I have to, I am going to sue the state,” Johnson said. “Since I spent over $7 million on the campaign – you know that winning this race means a lot more than the $10 or $15 million I was gonna spend – so the suit is gonna be in the neighborhood of $100 million, with the damages and everything else they’ve done. Because I think that what they’ve done is totally reprehensible.”
Johnson wouldn't claim responsibility for the forged or invalid signatures.
“What can I take responsibility for? The fact that my consultant hired five different groups and he’s the only one who would know about these groups? Because I’m not involved in the petition business, I wouldn’t know,” Johnson said.
Johnson says his campaign has “hundreds” of signatures that they didn’t turn in because they “didn’t look right.”
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