DETROIT — Mayoral candidate Tom Barrow’s efforts to keep Mike Duggan off the election ballot as a write-in candidate have been rejected by Michigan Election Director Chris Thomas.

In a letter sent out by Thomas on Tuesday, he explains that the State has no authority to remove write-in candidates. The Detroit City Charter requires no qualifications for write-in candidates, other than that they file a declaration of intent to run by the City’s July 26 deadline. Duggan had already filed his declaration to run as a write-in candidate on July 1.

In an email sent out to supporters, Duggan’s campaign said that Barrow is “misusing the legal process for the sole purpose of confusing and discouraging Detroit voters. It just means we have to work twice as hard.”

Duggan (L), Barrow (R)

This brings some much needed positivity to a campaign that almost closed shop last month. Both a Wayne County Circuit Court Judge and the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that Duggan was ineligible to run for Mayor last month, due to a technicality when he filed to run for office earlier this year. 

Duggan was just two weeks shy of being a resident of Detroit for one full year. That shortfall meant that he did not meet the requirements of the City charter, which states that all candidates running for office must be residents in the City for a full year, before filing.  

However, despite this blunder, Duggan’s write-in campaign appears to be in full-swing. Commercials informing residents that they have the option to write him in on the ballot, during the August 6 primary, have already begun airing on television. 

15 candidates are vying for the mayoral position. The top two vote-getting candidates in the primary will advance to the November election.