AZ Sen. Wendy Rogers wants her primary opponent Rep. David Cook disqualified
In her bid to win reelection, Republican state Sen. Wendy Rogers (R-Flagstaff) wants her primary opponent, Rep. David Cook (R-Globe), disqualified from the ballot.
Rogers alleges that some of the nomination signatures Cook turned in to qualify for the race are invalid because several people appear to have “ostensibly misspelled their own names” or addresses.
“Upon information and relief, circulators Jason Wessel, Mike Hernandez, Pedro Lopez regularly and systematically forged or falsified signatures,” the filing states.
Cook says he’s unconcerned and hasn’t even read the filing.
“I haven’t done anything wrong, and I know I'm going to be on the ballot because I know there’s enough signatures there,” Cook said.
Rogers did not respond to a request for comment.
Cook hired two firms to send out circulators on his behalf, so Rogers’ complaint does not personally accuse him of fraud.
The complaint also alleges some signatures are invalid for other reasons such as the signers living in the wrong districts, or being registered with the wrong political party.
Cook turned in more than 1,300 signatures and only needed 595 to qualify. However, Rogers argues that only 311 of the signatures are valid because the others were collected by the circulators whose signatures include misspellings, which should disqualify all the signatures they collected.
Cook says he’s been advised Rogers’ argument is a misreading of the law.
The case will go before a Maricopa County Superior Court Judge on Tuesday.
