A Traverse City Democrat is confident he’ll appear on the November ballot for northern Michigan’s seat in U.S. Congress.
Matt Morgan failed to get on the primary ballot for the 1st Congressional District because of an error on the forms he used to gather signatures. Most of the forms listed the campaign’s post office box instead of a street address. State election officials decided to keep Morgan’s name off the primary ballot.
In order to get on the November general election ballot, Morgan needs five percent of Democratic voters to write-in his name. He says that’s about 4,000 votes. On Tuesday night, many more than 4,000 write-in votes were cast, many of which are presumably for Morgan.
“We feel very good about being able to get this,” says Morgan. “By the time the boards of canvassers of each of the counties meet by the end of the day on Wednesday, we’re looking forward to being able to reach out to our voters and let them know we’re back on the ballot in November.”
Morgan calls the write-in campaign an “obstacle” but says it may have been a blessing in disguise.
“Really, the write-in campaign gave me the opportunity to introduce myself to voters and engage with voters in the district who may not have otherwise been paying attention to the election cycle this far out … three months out from the general elections.”
Morgan says he should know if he’ll be on the ballot by Wednesday afternoon. That's when county boards of canvassers are expected to finish counting votes. The official results will be announced later this month when the state board of canvassers meets.
Incumbent Republican Jack Bergman was unopposed in Tuesday’s primary.