BREAKING UPDATE: "Cornel West WITHDRAWS Petitions To Get On Arizona November Ballot; Allegedly Forged Elector's Signature Likely Cause"

8/17, 5:30pm: "BREAKING UPDATE: "Cornel West WITHDRAWS Petitions To Get On Arizona November Ballot; Allegedly Forged Elector's Signature Likely Cause"

Cornel West will not be on Arizona's General Election ballot. His campaign for President indirectly blamed a Republican-linked circulating company for its last-second decision to withdraw the ten boxes of petitions they had delivered to the Arizona Secretary of State earlier in the day.

Mike McCorkle, West's Ballot Access Counsel, told State Election Director Lisa Marra that "Due to circumstances beyond the campaign's control, we cannot in good conscience authorize the filing of any further documents on the campaign's behalf, so we must withdraw from our effort to be on the state's ballot this November."

Earlier in the day, McCorkle apologized, saying "We generally try to have our act together a lot better than this."

An Associated Press article last night detailed how one of the paid petition circulators for "Wells Marketing" changed her mind about helping West get on the ballot when she read reports that Wells was a Republican-funded effort to drain votes from other candidates. However, Wells apparently listed Denisha Mitchell as one of West's 11 Arizona Electors and forged her signature on the paperwork.

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE, 8/16: BREAKING: Robert F. Kennedy FILES Arizona Paperwork, Lists Same New York Residence Found To Be "Sham" Address; Says He Turned In 110,000 Signatures

The plot thickened this afternoon, as Independent Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. turned in a purported 110,000 signatures to get on the Arizona General Election ballot, but listed a home address in New York that a judge in that state found to be a "sham" address.

While Arizona does not require a Presidential candidate to live in New York, Kennedy did sign the nomination paper attesting that the Katonah address is his "actual residence address".

The nomination paper will likely be one of the bases for filing a legal challenge to keep him off the Arizona ballot. Arizona - unlike New York - is a swing state and even though Kennedy only polls at 5% in Arizona, both major parties are wary of Kennedy tipping the balance to the other party.

Validity of the signatures will be another. Out of the "purported" 110,000 signatures turned in, 42,303 need to be considered valid.

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