Democratic Party mailer removes SEP candidate Niles Niemuth from sample ballot
By
our reporter
5 November 2018
A voter guide mailed and hand delivered to residents of Dearborn, Downriver and western Wayne County removed Niles Niemuth, the Socialist Equality Party candidate for Congress in Michigan’s 12th district, from a sample ballot.
While the purpose of the mailer was to promote Democratic candidates in the election, the names of all Republican, third party and independent candidates besides Niles were included.
His name was apparently deliberately removed from the Wayne County mailer, since a nearly identical voter guide sent to residents of neighboring Washtenaw County, which includes the 12th district cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, includes Niles. For the Wayne County version, the place where Niles’ name would be is simply blank.
The Wayne County voter guide includes statements of endorsement from the United Auto Workers, while the Washtenaw Country guide has endorsements from Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan.
The voter guides were paid for by the Michigan Voter Guide Project, a local Democratic Party initiative started in 2016 by Democratic State Representative Adam Zemke and Washtenaw County Democratic Party Executive Committee member Jennifer Fairfield.
The apparently deliberate removal of the Socialist Equality Party’s campaign goes hand-in-hand with the censorship by WDIV News Channel 4 and ClickonDetroit.com, which had left Niles off of its voter guide.
WDIV’s news director Kim Voet has yet to reply to an open letter emailed by Niles Thursday night, though the station has quietly added his…