Opponents end challenge to Bennett’s run at Ducey
Ken Bennett’s longshot campaign to oust Gov. Doug Ducey in the Republican primary for Arizona governor will forge ahead after opponents failed in their attempt to knock him off the ballot. Ducey’s allies filed a lawsuit last week seeking to remove Bennett from the Aug. 28 GOP primary over accusations that he didn’t submit enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.
Both parties agreed to dismiss the lawsuit Thursday. Attorneys behind the challenge, Kory Langhofer and Thomas Basile, declined to comment on the reason.
But their challenge appeared unlikely to prevail given Bennett submitted far more signatures than required.
Bennett spokeswoman Christine Bauserman said it became apparent, as county elections officials reviewed signatures, that Bennett would have more than enough to remain on the ballot.
He submitted 7,833 signatures; a Republican running for governor must submit at least 6,223.
“It wasn’t hard to see what a worthless claim it was,” she said. “First they tried to pay the signature gathers to not help us. And second, they filed this worthless lawsuit that they knew was worthless.”
Bennett, a former Arizona secretary of state, jumped into the gubernatorial primary in late April, with little time to collect signatures before the May 30 filing deadline.
The lawsuit alleged that at least 1,316 of Bennett’s signatures are invalid for a host of reasons, including that they don’t match signatures on voter records or were signed by Democrats or unregistered voters.
Primary candidates in Arizona must collect signatures from registered voters who are members of their party or independents to appear on the ballot.
While the lawsuit didn’t make outright accusations of forgery, it alleged that Bennett’s petitions contain at least 206 signatures that don’t match the signatures on voter-registration records.
“Irrespective of whether the variance is the product of proven forgery or other misconduct, the affected signatures are invalid,” the lawsuit states.
The suit also alleged an additional 10 signatures are “suspiciously similar” to other signatures on the same petition sheet, “thus indicating that they were affixed by someone other than the purported signer.”
Allegations of widespread voter-signature forgery have roiled three other campaigns for public office in Arizona this summer.
Bauserman said questions about the authenticity of signatures on Bennett’s forms were without merit and simply intended to smear him.
“It was a worthless attempt to disenfranchise voters,” she said.