Conyers’ legal team is expected to appeal the ruling later this week. Officials: Conyers fails ballot test

Longtime Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) didn’t submit enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot this year, Wayne County, Michigan, officials said in a report released on Friday.

Conyers, who has represented Detroit in the House for 49 years, came up more than 400 signatures shy of qualifying for the ballot because his signature-gatherers were not registered voters, according to the Detroit News.


A final report is due next Tuesday. Conyers’ legal team is expected to appeal the ruling later this week.

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If Conyers is kicked off the ballot and doesn’t win as a write-in candidate, the Detroit metro area will shed more than a century of Democratic House seniority at the end of the year. Rep. John Dingell, who has represented the area for more than 60 years, is retiring. Rep. Gary Peters, in just his third term, is giving up his seat to run for Senate.

Two of Michigan’s senior GOP members, Reps. Dave Camp and Mike Rogers, are also retiring at the end of the year — as is longtime Democratic Sen. Carl Levin.