Huwaida Campaign Sues MDP, Chair Barnes, Secretary of State Benson
Asks Judge to order MDP to follow their own rules; Benson to hold ballot finalization.
This morning the Huwaida for U of M Regent campaign sued the Michigan Democratic Party (MDP), MDP Chair Lavora Barnes, and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. The MDP and Chair Barnes to compel them to follow MDP rules, and Secretary Benson to prevent finalizing the U of M Regents’ lines on the ballot until an audit of the nominating processes is complete. The campaign’s press release is here.
The key issues raised in the complaint are:
Credentialing errors. Credentialing for the Convention closed as 2pm. At the beginning of the Convention, around 3pm on Saturday 24 August 2024, the Convention credentialing report said there were 1248 credentialed party members. The MDP has repeatedly refused to release the raw data, however the data it did release shows 1422 voters, 174 more than given in the credentialing report. No explanation has been provided.
Incorrect tabulation due to factual errors. Because the MDP uses a voting system weighted by county and congressional district populations (explanation at the bottom of this article), where someone lives makes a difference in the weight their vote has in the election, and this can alter the results of an election. In the data released, some voters are show as residing in the wrong county or congressional district, which changes the weighted vote totals and the outcome of the election.
Incorrect tabulation method. MDP Rules require slate voting when electing more than one person to the same office, as in this case where two people are being elected Democratic Party Nominee for U of M Board of Regents. The MDP tabulated the (weighted) votes according to majority voting rules. MDP rules reserve majority voting for single-position offices, where only one person is being elected to a given office, such as Chair, Treasurer, or similar. For multiple-position office, such as members of boards or committees, MDP rules require slate voting. Slate voting is a proportional system that ensures minority coalitions can win positions on boards, committees, and similar in proportion to their numbers among the electorate. Under majority voting tabulation, the Unity Slate wins both nominee positions. Under slate voting tabulation, the Unity Slate wins 1 position, and the Huwaida slate wins 1 positions. The math details are shown in this article.
Improper certification. The MDP Convention Rules Report, which serves as a set of rules for Convention specific activities, requires the MDP State Central Committee to “convene on the Convention floor immediately following adjournment” of the Convention for “Canvass and Ratification of Convention Results”. According to reports, including from this author who attended, there was no quorum at the State Central meeting, therefore the Committee did not canvass or ratify the results.
There are several other issues raised in the full complaint, including Arraf’s supporters being given incorrect information regrading credentialling, and lack of transparency in the tabulation and manual correction processes the MDP says they carried out - and of course the MDP’s repeated refusal to release the raw data. Here are the exhibits noted in the complaint.
This Democratist article and the affidavit I provided to the Huwaida campaign were key pieces of supporting evidence.
The judge has scheduled a hearing for 9am tomorrow morning, September 6th, the day the Secretary of State is scheduled to finalize the ballots; she’s been put on notice of the lawsuit. It’s coming down to the wire, but democracy can still win here.
I’ll be at the courthouse and will likely be called to testify tomorrow.
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For those interested: here’s the story of what happened when I first joined the MDP, and my 4 year progress report (2016 -2020), after which I was elected to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) on the Solidarity Slate (also see the platform). Here’s my 2023 DNC report. I’ll write a final DNC report before the end of the year when my term ends. Some other good articles from this era include this piece on clearly distinguishing between capitalism and markets, this one on collective bargaining, and this piece on cargo cult democracy. For a summary of problems in the Democratic Party, see this press packet.