Truest statement of the week

The SEP brief presents a detailed review of the election campaign from the initial announcement of Kishore and Santa Cruz as the party’s candidates on January 21, 2020 through to the cancellation of all campaign activities in early March due to the pandemic. The SEP “decided to suspend all subsequent public events, including future plans for ballot gathering initiatives, in order to protect volunteers, staff and the public at large from spreading the coronavirus,” the brief states.
The appeal quotes several statements by Governor Whitmer that directly contradict the position being argued in court that the SEP should be collecting signatures to be placed on the ballot. One of these was a press conference on July 9, where the Governor focused on the increasing spread of the virus in Michigan during June and July, saying, “If we let our guard down, we could see a rapid increase in cases and deaths here in Michigan. … We’ve got to all work together to protect one another.”
The appeal brief also reviews in detail the history of the SEP (and its predecessor the Workers League) in Michigan, including the relocation of the party’s center to Southeast Michigan in 1978, the large readership in Michigan of the World Socialist Web Site, the numerous elections in which the organization has achieved statewide ballot access going back to the 1984 presidential elections and many other campaigns and initiatives of the party in Detroit and surrounding areas over the past three decades.

The candidates noted the growing support for the SEP over the years and argue that, had they “been able to run a ballot drive statewide this year, the total number of required signatures was certainly well within their reach, especially in light of a rapid leftward shift in the population and the growing popularity of socialism.”

-- Kevin Reed, "SEP files appeal to Federal Sixth Circuit Court in Michigan ballot access case" (WSWS).