Gov. Snyder took a few moments from his busy schedule trying to fix the Flint water mess to create a new mess in the upcoming elections for a vacant state House seat in Macomb County.
Snyder announced this morning that a primary election in August and a general election in November will be held to fill the 28th House District seat for eight weeks. On those same August and November ballots, voters in the district (Center Line and most of Warren) will vote for candidates to fill the seat for the coming 2017-18 term. Candidates will be allowed to run for both terms of office, appearing on the ballot twice.
To suggest that this arrangement will create confusion among voters is an understatement. More to the point, the person elected to the 8-week term will serve minimally, in a post-election lame duck session which will likely see the House in session for only a half dozen days before the end of the year.
The vacancy was created last month when freshman lawmaker Derek Miller, a Warren Democrat, accepted an appointment as the new Macomb County treasurer.
The governor could have let the situation go, with candidates currently filing — as is the case for all House seats — for the next 2-year term. If Miller had stayed in the House, he would be filing along with other candidates in just a few weeks, by the April deadline, to run in the upcoming August and November elections.
If the governor wanted to ensure that the 28th District quickly has representation in Lansing, he could have immediately scheduled a special primary election for May – a spot on the calendar that is normally limited to local ballot proposals – and a special general election on the day of the August primary.
“Because of the timing, it falls a little bit odd,” Snyder deputy press secretary Laura Biehl told The Macomb Daily. Referring to the dual elections, Biehl added: “The governor’s goal is to not cost the local communities more” for election expenses.
In a press release, Synder said this: “This timing gives voters plenty of opportunity to research the candidates and decide who will represent them next in Lansing.”
I have no idea what that means.
