Republican gubernatorial candidate Marc Holtzman filed petitions with the Colorado Secretary of State last month in an attempt to be listed on the August primary ballot running against Bob Beauprez. Secretary of State Gigi Dennis declared that the number of signatures that were disqualified during the certification process left Holtzman with an insufficient number to be placed on the ballot. The Holtzman campaign has challenged Dennis' findings in court.

According to the Holtzman campaign, Second Judicial District Court Judge Hyatt agreed with the Holtzman for Governor Campaign on four of the five rulings that were issued on Friday, June 16. The campaign reports the favorable rulings as:

1.) There is no requirement of a 29 day period of party affiliation in order for an otherwise eligible elector to circulate a petition.

2.) Party affiliation status, not eligible elector status, must be reflected on the books of the county clerk for petition circulators.

3.) Qualified circulators must be affiliated with the party only at the time they circulate their section of the petition.

4.) Circulators need only be eligible to vote in Colorado, not in the Congressional district in which they circulated petitions.

On a fifth issue, Judge Hyatt did not rule in favor of statewide eligibility of electors. A minimum of valid signatures must come from each electoral district in the state, and not just a total statewide.

Holtzman spokesman Jesse Mallory said that the campaign continues to be successful in their efforts to re-certify signatures with the Secretary of State. He went on to say, "The Secretary of State's office has already admitted that they erroneously excluded over 450 proper signatures."

Representatives of the campaign will work with the Secretary of State's office this weekend to settle issues in preparation for a hearing on qualification questions set for Monday. The campaign plans to present evidence that signatures rejected earlier are acceptable.