There's a new twist in the saga over which Republican candidates will appear on the primary ballot in the U.S. Senate race: a group of voters is suing to try to keep former state Rep. John Keyser out of the race.
The plaintiffs, two Republicans and a Democrat, are being represented by a lawyer who tends to work on liberal causes. Their suit argues that scores of signatures submitted by one of Keyser’s petition circulators are fraudulent and that all of those petitions should be invalidated. From the complaint:
Not every name has been forged on the petitions that are the subject matter of this litigation, and not every affidavit attached to them is false. But so many forged signatures and false affidavits were filed with and accepted by the Secretary of State to result in an unwarranted placement of Jon Keyser on the primary ballot for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.
Counties have already started printing their primary ballots, with Keyser’s name on them. Plaintiffs are asking that any votes cast for him not be counted. Keyser’s campaign calls the suit politically motivated and says it gathered enough valid signatures.
The GOP Senate primary has been embroiled in qualification drama for weeks. Keyser is one of three candidates the Secretary of State originally said didn’t make the ballot who then successfully challenged their way on through the courts.
