On June 13, Jonathan Lines, chair of the Arizona Republican Party, filed a lawsuit in state court, claiming that the petition to put Kevin McCormick on the Libertarian August primary ballot for Governor does not have enough valid signatures. Lines v McCormick, Maricopa County Superior Court.
The Secretary of State and county election officials had determined that McCormick’s petition is valid. See this story at Independent Voters Network, which has a long facebook thread between McCormick and many people who signed his petition.
No one has challenged the petition submitted by the Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate.
Separate and UNEQUAL ballot access laws in how many States for partisan offices ???
ALL – except the top 2 primary States ???
Looks like someone is afraid of losing an election simply because the Libertarian is on the ballot.
Here’s the link to read all of those Facebook comments:
https://www.facebook.com/233116802464/posts/10154711079647465/
Supposedly there were 4200 signatures or so signatures, of which 1400 were online through the SOS website, and apparently not being challenged. Around 2400 of the 2800 paper signatures are being challenged. There were 294 sheets with up to 10 signatures per sheet. About eight signatures per sheet are being challenged. There are a lot of technical objections such as leaving off towns/cities or incomplete addresses, but the two that stand out are 1245 unregistered signers, and 821 wrong party signers.
If these are accurate, it means the county clerks didn’t do anything other than count the number of lines. The Facebook conversation has a lot of chatter about signatures being disqualified for being outside lines, etc.
Maybe states should use the system that is used in Zambia, where the supporters appear in person and have their identities checked. Parties often bring extra supporters and make it sort of a rally,
CQ —
Divide and conquer math —
LP DOOM for fascist Elephants =
Green DOOM for communist Donkeys ???
This should be dismissed on standing, as it’s a primary petition and the challengers are not party members.
@Jeremy Siple,
No such requirement in Arizona statute.
Update on this story: There was a hearing yesterday and today in the Maricopa County Courthouse concerning McCormick’s signatures. The County recorder’s office apparently tossed a sufficient number of signatures that will take him off the ballot. There is a video on his Facebook page about this.