Tucson City Council Election: At least two petition challlenges, maybe more

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I have already told you about the pending petition challenge to Marshall Home™, who is a county resident and is not eligible to run for mayor in the City of Tucson.

And I told you that "Both Republican candidates for mayor Shaun McClusky and Ron Asta filed with a small cushion of signatures above the minimum number required that, after validation of signatures, may leave one or both of them a little bit short. They are definitely cutting it close."

Pima County Democratic Party Chair Jeff Rogers is quoted in the Tucson Weekly today as saying that, with respect to Shaun McClusky, a review of his petitions has turned up between 280 and 300 invalid signatures, leaving McClusky well short of the number needed to qualify for the ballot. Democrats Want To Knock GOP Mayoral Candidate McClusky off the Ballot. A pettiton challenge is pending.

Jeff Rogers says that Democrats have turned their attention to the petitions of independent candidate Pat Darcy. I told you that Darcy used paid petition circulators in recent weeks to collect his signatures. "Generally speaking, paid petition circulators have at best a 60% valid signature rate of return, which could leave Darcy short of the number of valid signatures required to qualify for the ballot."

I am aware that at least one council candidate has some questionable petitions. Whether the number of potential invalid signatures merits a petition challenge remains to be determined.

It appears the next round of this crazy election season will be played out in court.