DENVER – Ryan Frazier, a candidate for U.S. Senate has said his campaign will appeal a court ruling that appears to prevent him from getting his name on the Republican primary ballot, while another candidate, Robert Blaha, appears likely to be put back on the ballot by the judge.

It’s unclear whether Blaha made the ballot, as there is information missing from the judge’s order in that case. But it seems likely he will get on the ballot when a judge issues a final ruling on Thursday.

Blaha’s campaign said in a statement it was a “gross mishandling of the petition process” by the secretary of state’s office.

“Wayne Williams threw three people off the ballot for trivial meaningless reasons disregarding Colorado voters intent,” Blaha said. “He can’t be entrusted with Colorado elections. If you’re incompetent there should be a price.”

Williams responded to Blaha’s criticism by pointing out that the judge in her ruling noted that his office had accurately applied the law and that there was no evidence of any error on his part.

“Mr. Blaha seeks to blame others for his own campaign’s incompetence,” Williams said. “He needs to read the entire ruling from the judge, not just the conclusion.”

Blaha’s attorney’s argued in court Tuesday that a number of small infractions resulted in otherwise valid signatures from real registered Republican voters being tossed out.

In one case the date put on the petitions by the person going door to door gathering signatures did not match the date used by the notary, four other petition circulators used addresses on their forms that conflicted with the address on their voter registrations, and one notary failed to affix her notary stamp to some petitions.

Frazier, a former Aurora City Councilman, had a much more complicated case that relied on similar technical issues but also more complicated legal interpretations.

Assistant Attorney General LeeAnn Morrill said in court that the secretary of state’s office cannot consider additional evidence in these cases but can only go by the letter of the law.

Earlier this week a judge ruled that candidate Jon Keyser should appear on the ballot despite a technical infraction by one of the petition gatherers. Keyser would be on the ballot with El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn and Fort Collins businessman Jack Graham.

County clerks across the state are waiting for the names in the race to be certified so they can set their ballots and beginning printing them before they are mailed in early June.

Colorado Springs businessman Robert Blaha