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'The law is clear': Judge denies Ferrysburg councilman's request to return to ballot

He is among the candidates fighting for three seats on the city council and running for mayor that will not be on the ballot after a clerical error.

FERRYSBURG, Mich — An Ottawa County Circuit Court judge has denied council member William Montgomery's request to be allowed to be on the ballot after a clerical error by the clerk wiped Ferrysburg's ballots clean for November.

Hon. Jon Hulsing made the ruling on Thursday after Ferrysburg called an emergency meeting this week removing all city candidates from the ballot because the clerk failed to properly certify the petitions by signing each one. 

Montgomery has served on the council since 2019 and was planning to run for re-election in November.

He is among the candidates fighting for three seats on the city council and running for mayor that will not be on the ballot after a clerical error. 

On April 25, City Clerk Amber Schaner sent an email to Montgomery saying she certified his petition with 23 signatures allowing him to run on the ballot on November 7.

Two months later, Ottawa County Clerk Justin Roebuck said he received an "anonymous note" that one of Montgomery's petitions was missing a signature. 

Because he was missing a signature, the city's charter requires Montgomery to be disqualified because it requires between 15 and 30 signatures for nomination. 

The city's attorney Brook Bisonet came back and said under state law, 12 signatures would be sufficient based on the city's population and that Montgomery should remain on the ballot.

However, on July 31, Montgomery was made aware he did not have enough signatures to qualify and the "municipality had a clear duty to correct errors on the ballot."

RELATED: Election commission votes to leave Ferrysburg ballots blank in upcoming election

Montgomery ended up filing a lawsuit against Ferrysburg and the clerk on August 11. 

In a written opinion, Judge Hulsing said that the defendants, in this case, have a duty to remove  Montgomery's name from the list of candidates.

"Because this nominating petition that Mr. Montgomery circulated must be excluded for his failure to sign, he only has 12 valid signatures and does not meet the signature requirements of the charter for nomination," Hulsing wrote.

The judge also ruled that Montgomery does not have a legal right to be included on the list of nominees and says Ferrysburg has a legal duty "to refuse to certify a candidate for a place on a primary election ballot, when said candidate has failed to file the required number of signatures in the form prescribed by a clear and unambiguous statute. "

Although the ballots will appear with no names for any of the races, the candidates will be able to enter as write-ins.

The deadline for write-in applications is two Fridays before the November 7 election.

   

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