Ron Paul Campaign Press Release - In Case You Missed It: Huntsman Fails to Appear on Arizona Ballot

LAKE JACKSON, Texas - National media are reporting that Jon Huntsman has failed to appear on the Arizona ballot due to a "notary issue." This means that on February 28, the day of the Arizona primary, Huntsman, a former Governor of a neighboring state, will not have his name on the ballot.

News of Huntsman's Arizona debacle comes on the heels of Huntsman failing to compete in Iowa, and failing to qualify for the ballot in Illinois and Virginia, the fifth and 12^th largest states, respectively.

Huntsman Fails to Quality for Arizona Ballot

By Tim Alberta - NationalJournal.com

An underdog presidential contender fails to qualify for the primary ballot in a large, early-voting primary state, prompting questions about the candidate's organizational prowess and ability to run a competitive campaign past January's early nominating contests. Sound familiar?

No, it's not Newt Gingrich in Virginia. It's Jon Huntsman in Arizona.

Huntsman failed to qualify for Arizona's February 28 presidential preference election after his filing paperwork — which was turned in only two hours before Monday's 5 p.m. deadline — was rejected due to a "notary issue," according to Secretary of State spokesman Matt Roberts. The Arizona Secretary of State's office sent a letter to Huntsman's campaign shortly thereafter informing them that they are "unable to certify" Huntsman as a candidate.

Huntsman's nomination forms were ruled "incomplete" because they were "missing the candidate's original notarized signature," Roberts said. "We are unable to certify him because of that."

Huntsman spokesman Tim Miller was taken aback by the news, and said the campaign will dispute the disqualification. "We submitted what was required," Miller said. "Our campaign will aggressively challenge the ruling and we will be on the ballot."

When the qualifying period closed, 29 candidates — six Green Party contenders, and 23 Republicans — had filed the necessary paperwork for the February 28 ballot. Among them were Huntsman's five major opponents for the Republican presidential nomination, all of whom will appear on the Arizona ballot after their paperwork was approved.

Ironically, Huntsman built his political résumé by governing neighboring Utah for nearly five years.

Making the rejection all the more embarrassing for Huntsman is the fact that Arizona has some of the easiest ballot requirements in the country: Candidates needed only to submit a notarized statement of application to qualify — no voter signatures, no petitions, nothing. This stands in stark contrast to Virginia, which boasts some of the nation's toughest ballot requirements. Gingrich failed to qualify not for a lack of paperwork, but because he was unable to collect the requisite 10,000 valid signatures from Virginia voters — including 400 from each of the state's 11 congressional districts…

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