The Arab American News (TAAN) has announced its endorsements for the Aug. 7 Michigan primaries. TAAN is endorsing every candidate who has received endorsements from the Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC).   TAAN is also endorsing Congressman Hansen Clarke (D MI-13th District), Congressman John Conyers (D MI-14th District) and Congressman John Dingell (D MI-15th District).

The following candidates were recently endorsed by AAPAC. For the last 14 years The Arab American News has supported the candidates endorsed by AAPAC because of the careful consideration this group gives to each candidate, in addition to the democratic and transparent process in which its endorsements are conducted. Therefore, this year we add our endorsements as well to the entire slate of AAPAC: 

for Wayne County Sheriff

for Dearborn 19th District Court Judge

for State Representative 9th District

for State Representative 11th District 

for Wayne County Circuit Court Judge

for State Representative 4th District 

• Jane Ellen Gillis 

for Wayne County Circuit Court Judge

for 36th District Court judge

for Wayne County Commission 8th District

• Sherry J. Gay-Dagnogo 

for State Representative 8th District 

• Sabrina Johnson 

for 22nd District Court Judge

• Mark Somers 

for Wayne County Circuit Court Judge 

for State Representative 17th District

In addition, The Arab American News extends its endorsements to the following candidates:

Michigan lost population over the past decade. As a result redistricting occurred, and the state is preparing to have one less Congressional seat. Congressman Hansen Clarke is running against Congressman Gary Peters, Southfield Mayor Brenda Lawrence and former State Representative Mary Waters in the newly drawn 14th Congressional District, which is being hailed as one of the state’s most intresting races. Congressman John Conyers, Jr, who currently represents the old 14th Congressional District, is running now for the 13th Congressional District  in this primary election, as aresult of the redistricting. Those who win in the Aug. 7 primaries will go on to compete in the November general election.  Dingell is running for re-election in the newly drawn 12th Congressional District. 

 

12th Congressional District

Dingell assumed office in 1955, after his father former Congressman John D. Dingell, Sr. who was elected in 1932 to serve the 15th District, passed away. If Dingell serves until June 8, 2013, he will become the longest serving member of Congress in the nation’s history. Currently his district encompasses parts of Washtenaw and Wayne Counties, and all of Monroe County. It includes Ann Arbor and the Detroit suburbs of Romulus, Taylor, Inkster, Dearborn Heights, and the Western portion of Dearborn. Dingell is the Dean of the U.S. House of Representitives, and the Dean of the Michigan Congressional Delegation. Over the years Dingell has maintained a close relationship with the Arab American community in Southeast Michigan. When U.S. Rep. Peter King of New York held Congressional hearings on the threat of Islam in America, Dingell testified before Congress and stood up for Muslim Americans by speaking about the contributions they make to society in his district. 

The district includes Dearborn, Ann Arbor, and several Downriver cities among others.

 

13th Congressional District 

Conyers’ district includes the northwest side of Detroit, the suburbs west of the city, the downriver suburbs adjacent to the Detroit River and the enclaves of Highland Park and Hamtramck. Additional major cities in the district include Allen Park, Dearborn, Southgate and Trenton. Conyers is widely known as a civil rights activist. He fought for social justice alongside civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., and has stood up against discrimination surfacing over Arab Americans. He’s frequently spotted at marches for equality in metro Detroit. Most recently Conyers introduced the “Rehab and Ahmed Amer Foster Care Improvement Act of 2012.” The act was formed after Dearborn residents and Arab Americans Rehab and Ahmed Amer’s children were placed in foster homes after the couple was wrongly suspected of being responsible for the death of their 2-year old son by the state. 

The district includes the east side of Detroit; portions of the city’s near west side, the inner suburbs of River Rouge, Harper Woods, Ecorse, the downriver communities of Lincoln Park, Wyandotte as well as upscale Grosse Pointe suburbs. 

 

14th Congressional District

Clarke’s current district is comprised of the east side of Detroit, portions of the city’s near west side, the inner suburbs of River Rouge, Harper Woods, Ecorse, the downriver communities of Lincoln Park, and Wyandotte, as well as the upscale Grosse Pointe suburbs. For decades Clarke has fought for Southeast Michigan. He’s stated that his reason for becoming a member of Congress is to help people in one of the nation’s poorest districts. Clarke voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, and told TAAN it violated the rights of U.S. citizens. He’s taken a strong stance to support immigrants and anything that makes establishing their lives in the U.S. unnecesarily difficult. He was elected to serve on the Michigan Senate in 2002, and before then he worked for Wayne County under the administration of the county’s former executive Ed McNamara.

14th Congressional district includes a portion of Detroit, the Pointes, Hamtramck, Royal Oak Township, Oak Park, Southfield, Lathrup Village, Farmington Hills, West Bloomfield, Orchard Lake Village, Keego Harbor, Sylvan Lake and Pontiac.

 

Wayne County Treasurer

Wayne County Treasurer Raymond Wojtowicz is running for re-election. Wojtowicz has initiated an online auction of tax-foreclosed properties which last year generated $32 million in sales and assisted over 14,000 taxpayers in avoiding foreclosure, stabilizing neighborhoods, and stopping blight. He also developed partnerships with over 20 neighborhood organizations to keep people in their homes in addition to effectively managing over $2 billion a year in county revenue.

for State Representative, 6th District 

State Representative Rashida Tlaib is running for re-election as a democratic candidate for a third term in the newly re-drawn 6th District, which now has been expanded to include the cities of River Rouge and Ecorse. The district also includes Downtown Detroit as well as part of the East side of the city, leading up to Belle Isle. In 2009, Tlaib, who comes from a Palestinian background, became the first Muslim American woman to serve in the Michigan Legislature and only the second Muslim woman in history to be elected to any state legislature in America. She helped restore about $3 million for before and after school funding in the city as well as saved about $1 million in health care for senior citizens. She continues to be the only legislator with a fully staffed neighborhood center that has helped spawn initiatives such as poverty programs and an anti-pollution campaign called ‘We Have a Righ to Breathe.’ 

It’s too late to register to vote in the Aug. 7 Michigan primaries which will take place Tuesday, however registered voters have until this Saturday before the primaries to fill out an absentee ballot if they meet any of the following qualifications: are 60 years old or older, unable to vote without assistance at the polls, expecting to be out of town on election day, in jail awaiting arraignment or trial, unable to attend the polls due to religious reasons or appointed to work as an election inspector in a precinct outside of your precinct of residence.

Requests to have an absentee voter ballot mailed to you must be received by your clerk no later than 2 p.m. the Saturday before the election. After receiving your absentee voter ballot, you have until 8 p.m. on election day to complete the ballot and return it to the clerk’s office. Your ballot will not be counted unless your signature is on the return envelope  and matches your signature on file. You must request an absentee voter ballot by mailing the application, a letter, a postcard, or a pre-printed application form obtained from your local clerk’s office.

You must be a registered voter to receive an absentee ballot. Requests for absentee voter ballots are processed immediately. Absentee voter ballots may be issued to you at your home address or any address outside of your city or township of residence.

 If an emergency, such as a sudden illness or family death, prevents you from reaching the polls on election day, you may request an emergency absentee voter ballot. Requests for an emergency ballot must be submitted after the deadline for regular absentee voter ballots has passed but before 4 p.m. on election day. The emergency must have occurred at a time which made it impossible for you to apply for a regular absentee voter ballot.

For more information visit:

 www.michigan.gov/sos/.