Filing Deadlines

A federal court issued an order on April 20, 2020 that changes the April 21 filing deadline and rules for some candidates.

1.  The order only pertains to offices that do not include an option to file with a filing fee. This means that the order doesn’t apply to any county or township office, nor does it apply to the office of State Representative. The only offices affected are:

• U.S. Senate
• U.S. Congress
• Wayne County Community College Trustee
• All Judicial Offices (only for candidates who are not the current incumbent)
• Any city office where the city charter does not allow the option to file with a fee

For all other offices, the filing deadline remains April 21.

2.  Only those candidates that filed a statement of organization with Federal Election Commission or established a candidate committee under the Michigan Campaign Finance Act by March 10, 2020 qualify for the filing deadline extension and other changes for the above-listed offices.

3.  For the above-listed offices and candidates only, the order:

(i) Extends the filing deadline to May 8 at 5:00 p.m. The deadline for all other offices (those with the option to pay a fee instead of signatures) remains April 21 at 4:00 p.m.

(ii) Reduces the signature requirement by 50 percent. For example, a Congressional candidate required by statute to provide at least 1,000 signatures now has to provide at least 500.

(iii) Allows candidates to collect signature images and submit petition sheets electronically.

The order is available here.