After Nearly 50 Year In Congress, Dem. Rep. John Conyers Makes An Amateur Mistake That Could Cost Him His Seat

After nearly five decades, you’d think John Conyers would have the whole balloting process mastered. And if you thought that, you’d be wrong. It seems that for the first time since 1965, Michigan voters won’t be able to find Democratic Rep. John Conyers, Jr.’s name on the ballot.

A Michigan state official has called Conyers ineligible to run for his 26th term in Congress due to issues over the collection of petitions. Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett said Conyers didn’t file enough valid signatures to make the ballot for the Democratic primary on Aug. 5. The signers had to be registered voters and most of Conyers’ were not.

Of, course, the American Civil Liberties union (ACLU) filed a federal lawsuit arguing that it is unconstitutional to require petitioners to be registered voters. Ha. Good luck with that one. 

And now Conyers is left with only two choices: He can either run as a write-in candidate or retire his seat.

To no one’s surprise, Rep. Conyers has already signaled that he is willing to launch a write-in campaign. “If we have to run a write-in, we’re prepared to do that,” state Sen. Bert Johnson (D) told the Detroit News last week. Johnson is Conyers’s campaign chair.

I can’t say that I’m not looking forward to seeing Rep. Conyers booted out of Congress for his own stupidity.