Seven Michigan candidates for Congress -- including five Democrats and two Republicans -- lack enough valid signatures on petitions to get their names on the August primary ballot, the Michigan Secretary of State office said today.

That includes candidates running against incumbents Justin Amash, R-Cascade Township; Bill Huizenga, R-Zeeland, and Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, as well as the only opponent of Jack Bergman, R-Crystal Falls.

Two of the seven were vying to fill the seat being vacated by Dave Trott, R-Birmingham.

The seven Congressional candidates who failed to collect 1,000 valid signatures:

Matt Morgan

Nick Schiller

Joseph Farrington

Paul Clements

Eponine Garrod

Dan Haberman

Kristine Bonds

The Secretary of State's office also said that two judicial candidates lacked enough signatures.

Tory Rocca, who was running for 16th circuit court judge in Macomb County, needed 2,000 signatures, but only 1,816 were deemed valid. There are two other candidates for the newly created seat.

Kameshia Gant, a candidate for 46th District court judge in Southfield, had all her nominating petitions thrown out because she failed to state she was running for a judicial seat. Gant's withdrawal means Judge Debra Nance will run unopposed.

Shri Thanedar, a Democrat running for governor, survived a challenge of his nominating petitions by fellow Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, another Democrat seeking the party's gubernatorial nomination.

In the end, Thanedar needed 15,000 signatures and had 16,286.

Meanwhile, John Conyers III filed a lawsuit today challenging the Wayne County Clerk's office decision earlier this month that he lacked enough signatures to run for his father's seat in the 13th Congressional District this year.

"Voters have a right to a fair choice," Conyers said in a statement released today. "Attempts to suppress the voice of voters or any other machinations designed to narrow voters' choices won't work. After comparing the qualified state voter registration file to our petition signors, we are confident that the court will have little choice other than to uphold the scared right to vote and to place my name on the ballots."