Mike Duggan's campaign for mayor isn't sweating over a new challenge to its legitimacy by fellow candidate Tom Barrow.

Duggan's legal adviser told Deadline Detroit he is confident Duggan will remain on August's mayoral primary ballot, despite a challenge by Barrow, who says he legally cannot.

Barrow, in a complaint to Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey, claims that Duggan violated Detroit city charter and is ineligible to run because he filed his signatures on April 2 to qualify to run, less than a year after he registered to vote in Detroit. He registered April 16, 2012.

Barrow points to the city charter, which says  "any person seeking office from a non at-large district must be a resident and qualified, registered voter in such district for one year at the time of filing for office."

Butch Hollowell, a Duggan legal adviser and NAACP general counsel, isn't buying Barrow's challenge.. 

"Any time there's an allegation, especially an unfounded claim such as this, we have to push back hard," Hollowell said.

Hollowell insists the city charter actually dictates that the one-year residency is based on the May 14 filing deadline for signatures, not the actual filing date that Duggan submitted petitions. Duggan could have waited until the May 14 deadline to file petitions. 

"You've got until the filing deadline," he said. "We feel very confident in this."

Regardless of how the clerk's office might interpret the charter, Hollowell said legal precedent clearly conflicts with Barrow's claim.

"The principle in election cases is to always err on the side of access to the ballot," he said. "(Not allowing him on the ballot) would be such a gross misreading of state law. He would be the first candidate in history to fail to make the ballot because he followed the state's recommendations and filed early."

Hollowell and Barrow will find out if Duggan's name is on the primary ballot tomorrow at 2:30 p.m., when the Detroit Elections Commission will formally certify each candidate.

The clerk's office didn't return a call requesting a comment.

Earlier today: Barrow vs. Duggan: 'He'll Be Off The Ballot . . . As Good As Gone'