Conyers might not make primary ballot

Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) is in increasing jeopardy of missing the primary ballot.

{mosads}Two of the people who gathered the signatures necessary for Conyers to appear on the primary ballot don’t meet the requirements to do so, Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett told Local 4, a Detroit TV station.

The two people, who gathered 211 combined signatures, weren’t registered Michigan voters when they compiled their lists.

Conyers needs 1,000 valid signatures to appear on the ballot, and has 1,193 at this point. But that includes the two canvassers who were not eligible to do the work, the clerk said.

The final ruling will come Wednesday.

If the signatures are thrown out, Conyers will have to run as a write-in candidate against his primary opponent, Rev. Horace Sheffield (D), whose campaign is challenging the signatures.

Conyers, who’s been in Congress a half-century and is the House Judiciary Committee’s ranking member, isn’t the only candidate who’s been tripped up by Michigan’s stringent ballot laws. Former Rep. Thad McCotter’s (R-Mich.) career ended two years ago, after he failed to make the ballot.