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Federal judge says Perry Johnson won't appear on GOP primary ballot

"My Trusty Gavel" by flickr user steakpinball - https://www.flickr.com/photos/60588258@N00/3293465641

A federal judge has denied gubernatorial hopeful Perry Johnson’s request to put his name on the Republican primary ballot.

The self-described “quality guru” is running short of options. He’s lost every single legal effort since his campaign was torpedoed by what appears to be petition fraud. That’s after the state Bureau of Elections determined thousands of signatures were forged. The federal court decision says it was up to Johnson to ensure his signatures were valid after outsourcing the petition operation to paid vendors. Also, that he missed the deadline to file a federal court challenge. Timing is an issue since most of the primary ballots are already printed.

Rick Pluta is Senior Capitol Correspondent for the Michigan Public Radio Network.