Thirteen minutes could be enough to keep GOP presidential candidate John Kasich on the Republican primary ballot in PA.
A petition challenge heard in Commonwealth Court on Wednesday focused on the deadline for filing objections to a candidate’s petition signatures.
Kasich’s campaign filed 2,184 signatures, though 192 of them were invalidated, the Post-Gazette reports, leaving him eight short of the 2,000-signature requirement.
While both sides agree the Ohio Governor did not meet the requirement, Kasich’s campaign argues the objection was not filed in time. The deadline for ballot petitions to be submitted is 5 p.m. on the final day, so the weeklong period to file objections should also end at 5 p.m., the campaign argued.
“A full seven days is 5 o’clock, seven days later,” Kasich campaign lawyer Lawrence Otter said.
Nathaniel Rome, along with attorney John Bravacos, filed the challenge at 5:13 p.m. on the last day to lodge an objection.
Bravacos – brother of Chris Bravacos, chair of Sen. Marco Rubio’s PA campaign team – argued objections should be accepted until 11:59 p.m., as the General Assembly never set a 5 p.m. deadline.
Commonwealth Court Judge Bonnie Leadbetter set a Wednesday, March 16 deadline for filing additional briefs, though the case could be of little consequence by then if Donald Trump wins Kasich’s and Rubio’s home-state primaries the day before.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz claimed a small victory of his own in Commonwealth Court on Thursday, after Judge Dan Pellegrini threw out a Pittsburgh resident’s challenge to his “natural born” status, the Post-Gazette reports.
Carmon Elliott, a self-identified progressive, told the Post-Gazette he registered as a Republican several months ago to file the petition against Cruz.
“This is not a political issue,” Elliott said. “Although I guess I have asked myself, would you be so preoccupied if the candidate who was born outside the country been a Democrat or a progressive? I might not have had quite the enthusiasm that I’ve had.”
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6 Responses
Thanks, theme. Did not know that about Kasich.
It’s Hillary’s race to win. She is praying her opponent will be Drumpf.
Kasich was a managing director for Lehman Brothers. Kasich supports the likes of Boehner, Lott, and McConnell. Take a look at the stiffs in the Republican establishment that support this loser- better Hiliary or Bernie. Kasich stinks!
Unfortunately the challenger in the Cruz case stupidly stipulated that Cruz’ mother has maintained her citizenship her entire life. So it really doesn’t matter what the real truth is.
@ gulagPittsburgh:
Do you have any proof–with all that’s appeared on the Internet–that Cruz’s mother had renounced her citizenship [if at all] prior to his birth?
Kasich’s team got in line at the last minute and his petitions weren’t formally approved until around 6pm on filing day – shouldn’t the “full seven days” the Kasich lawyer talks about begin then?
If it is true that Cruz’ mother renounced her US citizenship when she went to Canada, then Cruz is not any type of US citizen, because he was born elsewhere and his father is a Castro Cuban. I am mystified that nobody (FBI or media or Trump) has investigated this alleged defect in Cruz citizenship.