(MPRN-Lansing) The Michigan Secretary of State has released the initial list of Republican and Democratic candidates who will appear on the March 8th presidential primary ballot.
The Republicans:
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush
Dr. Ben Carson
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie
US Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas)
Carly Fiorina
US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina)
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindahl
Ohio Governor John Kasich
Former New York Governor George Pataki
US Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky)
US Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida)
Former US Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pennsylvania)
Donald Trump.
The Democrats:
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
US Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont)
Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley
Secretary of State Ruth Johnson compiled the list. State law calls for it be made up of people
“generally advocated by the national news media to be potential presidential candidates.”
But this isn’t the end of deciding who will appear on the ballot. Michigan Republican Party Chairman Ronna Romney McDaniel and Michigan Democratic Party Chair Brandon Dillon have until Tuesday to add (but may not remove) names.
Candidates who want to appear can also submit nominating petitions no later than December 11th. It takes 10,577 signatures of registered voters to qualify for the GOP ballot; 12,823 to qualify for the Democratic ballot.
That represents .5 percent of the votes for the Republican and Democratic candidates, respectively, in 2012. With three and a half months to go, there’s no way of knowing which candidates will still be in the race by the time the Michigan primary rolls around. December 11th is also the deadline for candidates to remove their names from the primary ballot.
