(Source: MIRS.news, Published 06/03/2024) The Board of State Canvassers voted unanimously on Monday that state Court of Appeals candidate Lisa Marie Neilson missed the 6,200 signatures required to make the August primary ballot by 23 names, marking the presumed end to a question that has stretched for weeks.
By the filing deadline, Neilson claimed she had turned in 8,205 signatures. Attorney Mark Brewer of Goodman Acker flyspecked the petitions of the former Wayne County Probate judge to 4,397.
The 2nd District candidate successfully revived some signatures and her attorney came back to the table Monday to revive 53 more, enough to get her on the ballot. But her efforts fell 23 signatures short.
"I oftentimes liken it to losing in triple overtime as opposed to getting blown out 12-0 in a game. At least when it is 12-0, you have time to prepare your emotions. Being 23 short is unfortunate," said Canvasser Anthony Daunt.
Neilson had her case up in front of the Canvassers on Friday, but the Board tabled the question, so her campaign had to work on the rebuttal. Board members discussed the 100-page response to the challenge that was turned in at about 6:30 p.m. May 30, the day before the Canvassers initially met to discuss the nominating petitions.
Phillip Seltzer, who was representing Neilson, also brought in challenges and affidavits that he said would have proved 53 more signatures, putting them over the top and allowing her on the ballot.
That prompted an argument between Seltzer and attorney Mark Brewer about a possible cutoff that came with delivering information to the board.
Seltzer argued there was no time to close the record until the canvass members voted, but Brewer said Neilson needed to go to court like everyone else that wasn't satisfied with a decision made by the canvassers.
Daunt, a Republican, and Democrat Jeannette Bradshaw ended up agreeing that someone couldn't walk into the canvassers meeting and hand them a whole host of information that they couldn't review and expect them to make a decision based on that.
"If you hand it to me now, we don't really have the time to go over it," Bradshaw said.
The discussion prompted an idea from Bureau of Elections Director Jonathan Brater, who said the board should set a time for rebuttals because it wasn't the first time attorneys have walked into the board meetings with binders to prove their client or client's proposal should get on the ballot.
Neilson was appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder to the Wayne County Probate Court in 2012. She is a former partner of the law firm Zivian & Neilson and was a staff attorney for Oakland County Judge Linda Hallmark.
Neilson’s service on the circuit court ended in 2022 after her and her husband decided it was time for her to be closer to her children and grandchildren, she told Michigan Lawyers Weekly. She has a bachelor’s degree from Madonna University, a master’s degree in social work from the University of Michigan School of Social Work, and her law degree from the Thomas M. Cooley Law School.
