July 15 (UPI) -- A registered voter in Michigan has filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent GOP gubernatorial candidate Ryan Kelley from appearing on November's election ballot over his participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol building.
Lee Estes, an Oakland County resident, filed the lawsuit Thursday with the Michigan Court of Appeals, asking it to declare Kelley ineligible to be a candidate for governor because he has "engaged in insurrection" in violation the U.S. Constitution.
"He is a clear and present danger to democracy in Michigan," the lawsuit states.
Kelley, 40, was arrested in June on allegations of committing four misdemeanor crimes during the Jan. 6 siege of the Capitol -- which he pleaded not guilty to last week on the grounds that he was practicing his First Amendment rights.
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Prosecutors accuse Kelley of being among the massive crowd of then-President Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States.
In the lawsuit, Estes says Kelley is ineligible to be on the ballot for violating the Insurrection Clause of the 14th Amendment, which states those who have taken an oath to support the U.S. Constitution and engage "in insurrection or rebellion against the same" cannot hold office.
Estes argues that the attack on the Capitol made Kelley ineligible as he took an oath to support the Constitution of the United States on Dec. 12, 2019, when he was appointed to the Allendale Township, Ottawa County, Planning commission.
"The Insurrection Clause applies to any state or local official such as Kelley who has taken an oath to support the U.S. Constitution," the lawsuit states. "It applies to insurrectionist state and local officials regardless of whether they've been charged with a crime or whether Congress has take action against them."
The court document also lists other activities described as "insurrectionist" that Kelley participated in, including calling for election audits and decertifying the Michigan election.
"It's simple, really. If you supported and participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection, you should not have the privilege of holding -- or even running -- for public office," Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan, said in a statement. "Whether it's Ryan Kelley or anyone else that was illegally at the Capitol trying to overturn the will of the people, there needs to be accountability."
Along with barring Kelley from the ballot, the lawsuit asks the court to order Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to advise voters that votes for Kelley in the GOP primary in August will not be counted and to expedite the court hearing to ensure "voters know he is ineligible and have the opportunity to vote fore someone else in the primary."
Kelley rejected the lawsuit as a leftist attempt to distract from issues in the state caused by the state's Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, and President Joe Biden.
"Their claims of insurrection are laughable," he said in a statement.
