Wayne County Circuit Judge Dana Hathaway is firing back at an activist’s attempts to remove her from the ballot, saying she followed the directions given to her by the Michigan Bureau of Elections.
Highland Park activist Robert Davis, who is known for disqualifying candidates from the ballot, is contesting Hathaway’s bid to run for reelection to the Wayne County Circuit Court. In a complaint filed with the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office on Wednesday, Davis argues Hathaway must be removed from the ballot because her affidavit of identity “contains a false statement.”
Candidates are required to identify every county in which they ran for office. On Hathaway’s affidavit, which she submitted on March 5, the judge wrote “state” instead of the counties in which she previously ran.
In an email to Metro Times, Hathaway says the Michigan Bureau of Elections notified her on Feb. 5 that it “is fine” to list “state” instead of the counties in which she ran.
“An error on this line will not disqualify or cause issues for a candidate,” state officials wrote to Hathaway.
This is proof, Hathaway says, that she did nothing wrong.
“There was no mistake,” Hathaway said. “As you may be aware, Mr. Davis likes to create non-issues to harass candidates. … The Bureau of Election has made it clear he has no basis to challenge.”
She added in a follow-up email on Friday morning, “This is much ado about nothing.”
But Hathaway’s contention that Davis likes to “create non-issues” is misleading. Davis has successfully forced numerous candidates for judge, mayor, and city council off of ballots for failing to properly fill out affidavits of identities.
In an interview with Davis on Friday, he says the Michigan Bureau of Elections does not have the final say on whether a candidate can be removed from a ballot.
He plans to soon file a lawsuit with the Michigan Court of Claims, which he points out has the authority to remove candidates from the ballot, even if the Michigan Bureau of Elections contends a candidate is still eligible. In a lawsuit filed by Davis, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled in April 2023 that the statute, not state officials, determines the eligibility of a candidate. And the statute, Davis says, clearly states that a candidate cannot make mistakes or omissions on the affidavit of identity.
“The statute is very clear, and the case law is very clear: If you omit mandatory information, then you cannot be certified to appear on the ballot,” Davis says. “It’s quite sad when you have a judge that is ignorant of the law.”
Davis adds that the Bureau of Elections is “overstepping their legal authority in their effort to appease and accommodate judges.”
Davis says the courts, not state election officials, will have the final decision.
“Ultimately it’s going to be determined by the courts,” Davis says. I gave (state election officials) a courtesy to submit a challenge to give them an opportunity to try to address it. Now that I know they are going to defend their stupidity, this is going straight to the courts.”
State election officials didn’t return requests for comment.
Hathaway is part of a family with strong ties to the judicial system in Michigan. At least six Hathaways are current or retired Wayne County Circuit Court judges.
Her husband Nicholas J. Bobak Hathaway, and another relative, Bridget Hathaway, also serve on the Wayne County Circuit Court. Her husband changed his last name to Hathaway when he ran for the position in 2020.
Her father is Richard Hathaway, a retired Wayne County Circuit judge, one-time Wayne County treasurer, and a chief assistant Wayne County prosecutor. Her mother is Diane Hathaway, a former Michigan Supreme Court justice who was sentenced to a year in federal prison in 2013 after pleading guilty to bank fraud.
Hathaway was hospitalized on March 20 for unknown reasons. At 1:18 p.m., her husband, who was downtown at the time, called 911 and told the operator his wife was on the upper floor of their home in Grosse Pointe Park.
“I’m very scared,” according to audio of the redacted call obtained by Metro Times.
Hathaway was at Ascension St. John in Detroit for several days.
Asked about her hospital stay, Hathaway was vague.
"Although I am doing just fine, I'm still allowed a modicum of privacy," Hathaway said.
