Michigan Cases June 15, 2022: Alexander v. Sec'y of State

Case Description

Order

On order of the Court, the application for leave to appeal the June 7, 2022 order

[974 N.W.2d 832]

of the Court of Appeals is considered, and it is DENIED, because we are not persuaded that the question presented should be reviewed by this Court.

Viviano, J. (concurring).

I concur in the Court's denial of leave in this case. MCL 168.558(4) requires candidates for office to file an affidavit of identity that states "that as of the date of the affidavit, all statements, reports, late filing fees, and fines required of the candidate or any candidate committee organized to support the candidate's election under the Michigan campaign finance act, 1976 PA 388, MCL 169.201 to 169.282, have been filed or paid ...." (Emphasis added.) In Rocha v. Bd. of State Canvassers , ––– Mich. ––––, 974 N.W.2d 882 (2022) (Docket No. 164483) ( VIVIANO , J., dissenting), I concluded that this language does not apply to late filing fees that have been assessed but are not yet due. In that case, the candidate was not required to have paid any late filing fees as of the date on which he filed his affidavit, as the fee was not yet due. I therefore would have found that his affidavit of identity was not false when it asserted there were no unpaid fees due from the candidate. The present case is different. The $50 late fee that plaintiff owed was due on December 22, 2021. That fee remained unpaid when plaintiff filed her affidavit of identity on February 1, 2022. Consequently, the affidavit falsely asserted that all late fees "required of" plaintiff had been paid at that time. The Court of Appeals therefore reached the right result in rejecting plaintiff's claim. I concur in the denial order.

Bernstein J., joins the statement of Viviano, J.