Sutika v Roscommon County Clerk

Mar 14, 2017

OUTCOME: The Michigan Court of Appeals found that Defendant had no clear legal duty to count petition signatures where the signer had not personally written their address or date of signing on the petition. Reversed the trial court's grant of mandamus relief.

Represented the Defendant, the Roscommon County Clerk, in a recall election matter. In the case, Plaintiff and others sought to recall a member of the Houghton Lake Community School Board, and filed a ... petition with Defendant to place the recall measure on the May 2017 ballot. Defendant determined that there were insufficient valid signatures and rejected the petition. In the Roscommon County Circuit Court, Plaintiff specifically challenged the rejection of 23 signatures, 21 of which were rejected because Defendant determined that someone other than the signer had written the signer's address or date of signing on the petition in violation of MCL 168.954 and MCL 168.544c(2). The trial court ordered Defendant to count all 23 signatures, which meant that Plaintiff had procured a sufficient number of valid signatures to place the recall measure on the ballot.