A judge ruled to remove a Democratic candidate from the ballot to replace Trent Franks in the 8th Congressional District. Gene Scharer didn’t file enough signatures to qualify. That came to light after a supporter of Democratic rival Hiral Tipirneni challenged the signatures.
This means military and overseas voters who got ballots via mail and email will now get a second, corrected ballot.
In Superior Court on Tuesday, the Secretary of State’s Office argued the challenge to the signatures didn’t come quickly enough, but Judge Roger Brodman ruled against Arizona. Among the reasons: the state could have set the election date for a week later and still complied with state laws surrounding special elections. That would have left enough time for challenges to signatures to get heard before ballots went out to the military.
"The election challenge process was eliminated right from the get-go," Brodman said. "You do the math, there’s not enough time."
Gov. Doug Ducey set the primary election for Feb. 27. The deadline to register to vote is Jan. 29.
Separately on Tuesday, Maricopa County approved the polling places for the special election.
