Michigan Court of Appeals rejects Kumar’s attempt to return to Congressional election • Michigan Advance

Anil Kumar, a Democrat and member of the Wayne State Board of Governors, had his appeal rejected because the Michigan State Board of Canvassers disqualified him from appealing as a congressional candidate on the ballot August primary.

In a decision released Tuesday morning, the Michigan Court of Appeals denied Kumar’s motion to overturn the May 31 decision by state investigators that he did not submit enough valid signatures to vote for the Democratic nomination for the 10th Congressional District.

“At its core, Plaintiff’s request for mandamus is based on his factual assertion that the Board failed to consider voter signatures that should instead have been considered valid,” the order states. “But in its response, Defendant Council explicitly disputes Plaintiff’s factual allegations in this regard and offers evidence to the contrary. Given the existence of such material factual disputes, we conclude that it would be inappropriate to grant Plaintiff any of the relief requested herein.

These included at least 47 of Kumar’s petition sheets that Bureau of Elections staff said contained “clear indications of fraud.” Kumar unsuccessfully argued that canvassers had wrongly disqualified at least 94 valid signatures and that his campaign had the sufficient number of signatures needed to pass the ballot. The board also invalidated petitions filed by Rhonda Powell, who was also seeking office in the 10th Congressional District.

The district seat is currently held by U.S. Rep. John James (R-Shelby Twp.), who is running unopposed in the Republican primary. The remaining Democrats seeking to unseat James are Emily Busch, former Justice Carl Marlinga, Tiffany Tilley and Diane Young.

Likewise, the appeal committee rejected an appeal from US Senate candidate Nasser Beydoun last week that his petitions were invalidated because he failed to list a residential address as required by state law and instead used a post office box.