Press Release: Lansing City Clerk Refuses to Count Valid Signatures; Let Lansing Vote Files Lawsuit
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 7th, 2017
Lansing, Mich. — On Monday, November 6th at 4 pm, Let Lansing Vote filed a lawsuit in Ingham County Circuit Court against Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope. The lawsuit states that Swope improperly disqualified signatures in the referendum petition to stop the anti-patient ordinance passed by the Lansing City Council on September 7th. In his final decision on the referendum petition, Swope stated the petition was short the number of signatures needed to qualify by 1.2 percent, or 45 signatures.
After submitting a FOIA request to the Clerk’s office, Let Lansing Vote discovered that many signatures were improperly disqualified. In a challenge to the Clerk’s review submitted by Let Lansing Vote on October 27th, over 750 signatures were identified as having been improperly disqualified.
In a letter sent to Let Lansing Vote, Swope wrote that there was nothing within the City Charter to allow him to reconsider his previous decision regarding the signatures.
“Chris Swope failed to properly check the signatures and now claims he is unable to change his decision.” said Let Lansing Spokesperson Sarah Galey.
“Swopes needs to do his job. He should count the signature of every registered voter in Lansing who signed the petition.”
Contact Information:
Sarah Galey, Let Lansing Vote
Cell: 517-214-4597
Email: sarahgaley@gmail.com