ALLEGAN, MI (WHTC-AM/FM, May 8, 2024) – The fate of Jim Storey on the August 6 Republican Primary Election ballot was not determined on Wednesday morning.
After a meeting of the Allegan County Election Commission in the courtroom of 48th Circuit Court Probate Judge Mike Buck, who is the chairman of the panel, the three-member group, which includes Clerk Bob Genetski and Treasurer Sally Brooks, agreed to postpone any decision on the request from Jim Storey, the Holland Republican who is the chairman of the Allegan County Board of Commissioners, to rescind an April 26th letter he submitted, taking his name off of the primary ballot.
At issue is a claim from the Michigan Secretary of State’s office that Storey failed to file campaign reports concerning his attempt to secure a state House GOP primary nomination in 2015. Storey had lost to eventual Representative Mary Whiteford in the race to fill the seat vacated by the expulsion earlier in the year of Cindy Gamrat.
Genetski had notified Storey of this, and according to the commissioner, threatened to remove his name from the ballot if he did not submit a letter by a 4 PM deadline on the 26th. Storey has since stated that he has cleared up this matter with the Secretary of State’s office, and that his letter was written under duress and unwarranted time restrictions, and he was given no reasonable due process on the matter.
The decision to table the matter was made in order to “further review information and seek additional legal guidance,” according to Buck. No date for reconsidering the issue was immediately disclosed.
If Storey’s attempt to restore his name on the August 6th Primary ballot is successful, he will be challenged in the GOP primary by Craig Van Beek of Dorr for the nomination in the county board’s first district. No Democrat has filed to run in the primary.
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