The Republican bid for Colorado’s U.S. Senate seat is getting more convoluted. Denver’s 7News reported this week that reporter Marshall Zelinger found 10 likely forged signatures on petitions to put Jon Keyser on the June primary ballot. When confronted about the suspect signatures at a candidate event Thursday, Keyser refused to address the issue. Instead, Keyser repeatedly asserted, “I’m on the ballot. It’s done.” The former state representative from Morrison was placed on the ballot after collecting 1,500 signatures from each of Colorado’s seven congressional districts. Yet the Secretary of State’s Office ruled he fell 86 signatures short in one district. Keyser petitioned the court to consider evidence that many signatures were incorrectly invalidated. Denver District Court Judge Elizabeth Starrs agreed that a petition gatherer was indeed a registered Republican, as required by law, and that the signatures he collected should be counted. The ruling put Keyser on the ballot.
Zelinger began looking into the validity of the signatures after the left-leaning activist group ProgressNow held a press conference addressing questionable signatures it found while examining Keyser’s petitions. Zelinger found 10 people whose names and signatures were counted on Keyser’s petitions but who told Zelinger they did not sign the petitions. ProgressNow is calling for a criminal investigation.
Keyser isn’t the only candidate with petition woes. Ryan Frazier learned Thursday that the Colorado Supreme Court will hear his appeal to get on the ballot.
Frazier also was told by the Secretary of State that he had failed to collect enough valid signatures to appear on the ballot. Starrs agreed with Frazier’s attorney on some points, but Frazier still fell short of the requirement. He is now challenging several state rules that could validate more of his signatures.
Full Article: Drama continues in Colorado Senate race | Colorado Springs Gazette, News.