April 29, 2024

Contested candidate qualifies for Green Party U.S. Senate primary

Hernandez turned in over 2,300 signatures, substantially more than the 1,288 signatures he needed to qualify for the ballot.

Vote here sign near Armory Park Center Two "Vote Here" signs sit outside the Armory Park Center on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022 in downtown Tucson.
Paola Rodriguez/Arizona Public Media

A judge ruled that Arturo Hernandez, a candidate running for U.S. Senate in Arizona’s Green Party primary, can stay on the ballot.

The Arizona Green Party alleges both Hernandez and Mike Norton, another candidate in the primary, have no connections to the Green Party and are spoiler candidates backed by outside political interests.

Hernandez turned in over 2,300 signatures, substantially more than the 1,288 signatures he needed to qualify for the ballot.

But a candidate challenge alleged hundreds of those signatures should be thrown out, because they did not comply with state law.

Reports by county recorders invalidated nearly 950 signatures. A Maricopa County Superior Court judge threw out an additional 67 signatures, because a petition circulator did not list his current address on official documentation included with his petitions.

That ruling left Hernandez with 1,340 valid signatures, 52 more than he needed to stay on the ballot alongside Norton.

KJZZ
This story was produced by KJZZ, the public radio station in Phoenix, Arizona.
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