DENVER – A Denver District Court judge will rule in the next 72 hours whether Jon Keyser’s name can appear on the Republican primary ballot in June for U.S. Senate, despite a determination that he fell 86 signatures short of the required signatures in one congressional district.

An emergency hearing was held in Denver District Court Tuesday evening, and Keyser’s attorney argued that a technicality prevented the Secretary of State from accepting 86 signatures gathered by Tyler Gonzalez of Colorado Springs.

“These signatures are signatures of real voters, real people who want to put Jon Keyser on the ballot, and the right to vote has been held to be inextricably intertwined with the right to petition and the right to nominate candidates to the ballot,” said Christopher Murray, attorney with Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.

At issue is the address used by one of Keyser’s petition gatherers. Keyser paid Clear Creek Strategies in Denver $140,250 to gather at least 10,500 valid signatures, 1,500 of which had to come from each of Colorado’s seven congressional districts.

Not only did the signatures need to come from verifiable registered Republican voters, but the petition gatherers had to be registered Republicans in Colorado.

Deputy Secretary of State Suzanne Staiert said after the hearing that they could not verify Gonzalez was a registered Republican because his address used on the petition forms didn’t match the address of a Republican registered under Gonzalez’s name.

“We just have different standards than what the court can apply, and the court can accept additional evidence,” Staiert said, noting that her office cannot accept additional information after petitions have been filed.

Keyser’s attorney had Gonzalez appear in court and testify who he is, where he lives and that he is indeed a registered Republican. If the signatures are deemed valid by Judge Elizabeth Starrs, Keyser will be on the ballot. Starrs said she would issue a ruling in 72 hours.

Keyser is attempting to get on the ballot with El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn – the sole winner at the state assembly – and Jack Graham, who successfully petitioned onto the ballot earlier this month. Graham is the former Colorado State University athletic director.

Colorado Springs businessman Robert Blaha and former Aurora City Councilman Ryan Fraizer are waiting to hear whether their petitions are sufficient.

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Contact Megan Schrader: 286-0644

Twitter @CapitolSchrader

(Photo: Facebook/Jon Keyser)