DENVER – Two more Republicans have failed to make the U.S. Senate primary ballot, according to Secretary of State’s Office officials charged with verifying thousands of signatures turned in on the candidate’s ballot petitions.

Colorado Springs businessman Robert Blaha and former Aurora City Councilman Ryan Frazier learned Thursday afternoon that their signatures were not sufficient.

On Tuesday, Jon Keyser, was informed he had fallen 86 signatures short in a single congressional district of making the June primary ballot. He immediately challenged the decision in Denver District Court and is waiting for a ruling from the judge.

Candidates needed 10,500 signatures, with at least 1,500 from each of Colorado’s seven congressional districts, to petition onto the ballot.

Blaha and Frazier hoped to join El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn and Jack Graham, the former athletic director for Colorado State University, on the ballot. Glenn got there by winning 70 percent of the vote at the Colorado state assembly this month. Graham was the first one to turn in his signatures and have them deemed sufficient.

One of the things making it difficult for candidates to get on the ballot is that signatures can only count for one candidate. The 12,891 valid signatures Graham turned in could not be used by Blaha, Fraizer or Keyser.

According to records, Keyser had 433 signatures invalidated exclusively because the individual had signed another petition. Another 94 signatures were used on another petition but were disqualified for other reasons.

None of the 11,346 valid signatures Keyser turned in can be used by another candidate.

But bigger issues might have plagued the companies gathering petitions for Blaha and Fraizer. A review of records from the Secretary of State’s Office indicates 1,869 signatures for Blaha were declared invalid because “signer not affiliated with party.” Fraizer had 1,987 invalidated for the same reason.

According to records, Blaha also turned in 1,259 signatures where the name wasn’t found, while Fraizer had 1,227 in that category. Both campaigns will likely begin scouring the list to find errors and ways they can challenge the ruling.

Keyser’s challenge focuses on the fact that more than 100 signatures were deemed invalid in the congressional district where he fell short because the person gathering petitions was not a registered Republican. Keyser’s attorney demonstrated in court, by bringing the person in question to testify, that the individual was a registered Republican.

Blaha paid Cycle A&M $92,533 to gather signatures on his petitions, according to the candidate’s first quarter campaign finance report filed with the Federal Elections Commission.

Frazier paid Blitz Canvassing of Denver $119,915 in the first quarter of 2016 according to his report.

According to campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, Keyser’s campaign paid Clear Creek Strategies in Denver $140,250 for petition gathering in the first quarter of 2016. The campaign spent a total of $200,099.75 during that period.

Graham paid Kennedy Enterprises, of Colorado Springs, $236,267, FEC reports show.

Glenn, who didn’t go the petition route, issued a statement from his campaign on Thursday.

“We always knew this would be a robust primary and we look forward to continuing to reach out to the voters with a positive vision for our country. Robert and Ryan are fine gentlemen and we wish them nothing but success in the future,” the campaign said.

Colorado Springs businessman Robert Blaha