Late Roseville councilwoman Jan Haggerty on ballot, but no votes count

• Longtime Roseville Councilwoman Jan Haggerty lately handed away, however her title will nonetheless seem on the November poll.
• An identical scenario occurred in St. Clair Shores throughout the 2015 basic election.
• There are 5 names on the poll for the three, four-year seats on the Roseville Metropolis Council within the Nov. 4 election.

Voters in Roseville will see 5 names for the Metropolis Council on the Nov. 4 poll, however votes forged for any of the candidates is not going to depend.

Longtime councilor Jan Haggerty lately handed away, however her title will nonetheless seem on the ballot as a candidate for one of many three council seats for 4 years.

Metropolis Legal professional Tim Tomlinson advised the Free Press in an electronic mail that when officers have been requested in regards to the affect of the election on Haggerty’s former seat, they have been instructed to assessment the constitution, which was adopted in 1958.

“There’s a provision that supplied for the filling of that emptiness, however it didn’t tackle the impact of a emptiness on how votes are counted within the occasion of a loss of life previous to the election,” he mentioned. “In conversations with the County Clerk’s workplace, we recognized a Michigan statute that prohibits the counting of votes for a deceased particular person nonetheless on the poll. As such, any Constitution provision that conflicts with the statute is excluded. Accordingly, votes forged for Councilman Haggerty is not going to depend.”

An identical scenario occurred a decade in the past in St. Clair Shores, the place the late Mayor Professional-Tem Anthony Tiseo’s title appeared on the November basic election poll, weeks after he died round mid-October 2015.

In response to a earlier Free Press story, it was not doable to reprint the ballots and get them to voters in time for the election. Votes for Tiseo weren’t allowed to be counted beneath state election legislation, based on a information launch from St. Clair Shores’ then-city clerk.

Roseville Metropolis Clerk Jennifer Zelmanski mentioned voters in Roseville who returned their absentee ballots to town wouldn’t be capable of change their votes after Oct. 24. She mentioned town has begun preprocessing absentee voter ballots it has already acquired, as allowed beneath state legislation.

Absentee voters who selected Haggerty and nonetheless have their ballots in hand can take them to the clerk’s workplace to spoil them and get a brand new poll, she mentioned.

Tomlinson mentioned the Roseville Metropolis Council doesn’t have the authority beneath its constitution to fill a emptiness whether it is 40 days earlier than the election.

“So they don’t seem to be going to fill it and it may be left as much as the elections to fill it,” he mentioned of the seat held by Haggerty, a lifelong Roseville resident who was retired and spent most of her profession as a paralegal, based on her biography on the city’s website.

It says Haggerty retired from Macomb County, the place she held positions as a paralegal within the prosecutor’s workplace and within the courtroom’s juvenile division as a coordinator and advocate for victims’ rights. She was additionally lively in golf equipment and organizations in the neighborhood.

She served on town council for 19 years and was a East side community room board of administrators for 15 years, based on the chamber’s web site.

Tomlinson mentioned those that are elected will likely be sworn within the Monday after the election. These in search of a seat on the Roseville Metropolis Council embrace incumbent council members Invoice Shoemaker and Steven Wietecha, in addition to James Hoover and Dan Lambrix.

A memorial service for Haggerty is deliberate for Nov. 19 from 5 to 7 p.m. on the Recreation Authority of Roseville Eastpointe in Roseville, based on a discover on the web site Chamber’s Facebook page.

Contact Christina Corridor: chall@freepress.com. Comply with her on X: @challreporter.

Help native journalism. Subscribe to the Free Press.

Ship a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters.