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Sen. Dave Robertson, R-Grand Blanc Twp, and Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, talk after session on May 19, 2015.

(Jonathan Oosting | MLive.com)

LANSING, MI -- The Michigan Senate on Tuesday approved a plan to clean up Flint's mayoral election mess by allowing candidates to appear on the August primary ballot despite an apparent error by the city clerk.

"I think it's a step in the right direction, and hopefully the House will take swift action on it," said Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, who sponsored the legislation.

Incumbent Flint Mayor Dayne Walling and multiple challengers filed their nominating petitions late last month after City Clerk Inez Brown reportedly gave them the wrong date for the state filing deadline.

The "clerical error," as Flint City Attorney Pete Bade described it, would have forced the otherwise-qualifying candidates to run write-in campaigns. And with a potentially blank ballot, a local attorney announced that his pet pig "Giggles" would enter the fray.

"This is one of those things from the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction department," Sen. David Robertson, R-Grand Blanc Township, said last week as the bill advanced through the Senate Elections and Reforms Committee, which he chairs.

"I do think the people of the City of Flint have a right to have a proper election."

Senate Bill 329, approved in a 34-2 vote, would temporarily amend state election law by allowing the Bureau of Elections to authorize an extended deadline in Flint.

Ananich, noting that the city had been run by an unelected emergency manager up until April, said failing "to fix the mistake that was made at the local level" would further disenfranchise Flint voters.

Certifying write-in ballots would have also cost the city extra money, Ananich said.

"We should be doing things to make sure that we give people as much access to the ballot as possible," he continued. The candidates "followed the advice of the chief election officer with the understanding they would have some expertise."

The legislation, as drafted, is designed to apply only to the recent Flint snafu. It would allow the Bureau of Elections to authorize an extended deadline, but only through the end of this year.

Sen. Goeff Hansen, R-Hart, was one of only two members to vote against the bill. He said his local clerk expressed concern with the precedent of extending an election deadline.

"It's a one-time thing, but is it a one time thing?" Hansen said after session. "What happens the next time when somebody has something of the same type?"

Flint Clerk Inez Brown, who has not publicly discussed the deadline error she has been blamed for, is expected to testify before the House Elections Committee on Wednesday.

The panel is set to consider House Bill 4589, sponsored by Rep. Sheldon Neeley, D-Flint, which is identical to the measure approved Tuesday by the full Senate.

Jonathan Oosting is a Capitol reporter for MLive Media Group. Email him, find him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.