By Zach Gorchow
Gongwer News Service
A candidate for office can remain on the ballot even when they have unpaid fees for filing campaign finance reports late, as long as they had not received the notice of a late fee due prior to filing their paperwork to run for office, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled.
In an unpublished decision dated last Friday and released Saturday, a unanimous panel of the court waded into an issue that has bedeviled many candidates under a relatively new law requiring disqualification of candidates who had outstanding campaign finance reports or fees at the time they filed their affidavit of identity to run for office.
Several candidates for office have seen their bids disqualified under this law.
Davis v. Secretary of State (COA Docket No. 382090) involves the bid this year for Wayne probate judge by Vanessa Moss for a nonincumbent position. Moss filed her affidavit of identity on April 21 and, as all candidates do, certified that all reports and late fees required under the Michigan Campaign Finance Act had been paid.
Moss ran for 36th District Court judge in 2024. She was late in filing statements due in July 2025, October 2025 and January 2026. On March 19, 2026, Moss filed a dissolution statement covering Dec. 7, 2024, through Dec. 10, 2025, and filed a statement for January 2026. Moss was formally assessed a late fee on May 22, 2026, about a month after she filed her affidavit of identity to run.
The Court of Claims sided with the secretary of state. Robert Davis, the plaintiff with a lengthy history of filing litigation, appealed.
“In this case, undisputedly, Moss failed to timely file her campaign statements,” the court wrote in an unpublished per curiam opinion. “As a result, her committee received three notices from the Bureau of Elections.
The notices — dated July 30, 2025, October 30, 2025, and February 4, 2026 — warned Moss that she was subject to late filing fees for each day that the statements remained unfiled. The notices also specified, however, that the committee would receive a notice regarding the amount due after the campaign statement was filed or the maximum fee allowed by statute accrued, whichever occurred first.”
Only on May 22, a month after Moss filed her candidacy paperwork where she certified compliance with the Michigan Campaign Finance Act, did the Bureau of Elections notify her of a late fee, the court wrote.
“We acknowledge that this is a close question,” the court wrote. “At the time Moss filed her AOI, the infractions that triggered the late filing fees under the MCFA had already occurred. And, by statute, those fees were mandatory. However, because the fees had not yet been assessed, we agree with defendant that Moss’s statement on her AOI was accurate.”
Gongwer News Service
A candidate for office can remain on the ballot even when they have unpaid fees for filing campaign finance reports late, as long as they had not received the notice of a late fee due prior to filing their paperwork to run for office, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled.
In an unpublished decision dated last Friday and released Saturday, a unanimous panel of the court waded into an issue that has bedeviled many candidates under a relatively new law requiring disqualification of candidates who had outstanding campaign finance reports or fees at the time they filed their affidavit of identity to run for office.
Several candidates for office have seen their bids disqualified under this law.
Davis v. Secretary of State (COA Docket No. 382090) involves the bid this year for Wayne probate judge by Vanessa Moss for a nonincumbent position. Moss filed her affidavit of identity on April 21 and, as all candidates do, certified that all reports and late fees required under the Michigan Campaign Finance Act had been paid.
Moss ran for 36th District Court judge in 2024. She was late in filing statements due in July 2025, October 2025 and January 2026. On March 19, 2026, Moss filed a dissolution statement covering Dec. 7, 2024, through Dec. 10, 2025, and filed a statement for January 2026. Moss was formally assessed a late fee on May 22, 2026, about a month after she filed her affidavit of identity to run.
The Court of Claims sided with the secretary of state. Robert Davis, the plaintiff with a lengthy history of filing litigation, appealed.
“In this case, undisputedly, Moss failed to timely file her campaign statements,” the court wrote in an unpublished per curiam opinion. “As a result, her committee received three notices from the Bureau of Elections.
The notices — dated July 30, 2025, October 30, 2025, and February 4, 2026 — warned Moss that she was subject to late filing fees for each day that the statements remained unfiled. The notices also specified, however, that the committee would receive a notice regarding the amount due after the campaign statement was filed or the maximum fee allowed by statute accrued, whichever occurred first.”
Only on May 22, a month after Moss filed her candidacy paperwork where she certified compliance with the Michigan Campaign Finance Act, did the Bureau of Elections notify her of a late fee, the court wrote.
“We acknowledge that this is a close question,” the court wrote. “At the time Moss filed her AOI, the infractions that triggered the late filing fees under the MCFA had already occurred. And, by statute, those fees were mandatory. However, because the fees had not yet been assessed, we agree with defendant that Moss’s statement on her AOI was accurate.”
––––––––––––––––––––
Subscribe to the Legal News!
https://www.legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available
