LANSING, Mich. — Republican Perry Johnson asked a federal judge Monday to order the Michigan secretary of state's office to "immediately cease the printing of August 2022 primary ballots" as he made a last-ditch effort to get back into the race for governor.
Johnson, a businessman from Bloomfield Hills, was one of five GOP candidates for the state's top office who were booted from the ballot because of a wave of fraudulent petition signatures that state officials said left the candidates below the minimum 15,000 valid signature requirement.
Johnson's lawyer, Eric Esshaki, a former U.S. House candidate himself, argued that state elections officials had violated Johnson's right to seek public office without due process by "unlawfully denying" him "access to the ballot without providing him with an opportunity to be heard in a meaningful manner."
