"These are not normal times in politics in Detroit,” an interviewee says with notable understatement in a Detroit News report on a new wrinkle involving the Aug. 6 municipal primary election.
A legal dispute has delayed the mailing of nearly 24,000 absentee ballots to city voters, throwing the Aug. 6 primary election into disarray at a time when political experts say Detroit can ill afford more controversy at City Hall.
The city has delayed the mailing while it awaits a Tuesday state Court of Appeals decision over the eligibility of a city clerk candidate. Officials say they don’t want to proceed with an ineligible candidate’s name on the ballot, even though absentee ballots should have been mailed out by June 22 under state law.
At issue is the eligibility of city clerk candidate D. Etta Wilcoxon, bounced from the ballot in May because some candidacy petition signatures were deemed invalid. Wilcoxon challenged the ruling and won in Wayne County Circuit Court. The city took the case to the state appeals court, which is expected to take up the case Tuesday.
City Clerk Janice Winfrey has filed an emergency motion asking for an immediate reversal of the Wayne County Circuit Court judgment.
The shorter time for absentee voting could affect next month's mayoral primary, city hall reporter Darren Nichols notes in The News:
Low voter turnout in Detroit has resulted in absentee ballots playing a prominent role in recent elections. Nearly half of the city’s votes were cast absentee during the 2009 mayor’s race. . . .
“It throws everybody’s schedule off and it reinforces that these are not normal times in politics in Detroit,” said Greg Bowens, a political observer and former spokesman for Mayor Dennis Archer. “Getting people to vote in a primary election is a difficult process, but it’s made more challenging by the confusion coming out of City Hall."
