Judge orders Republican off ballot in Senate race

PHOENIX A judge has ruled that a Republican legislator committed petition forgery and ordered him removed from the ballot in a key Senate race.

If upheld on an expected appeal, Judge Kenneth Fields' ruling removing Representative Russell Jones of Yuma from the ballot would deal a major blow to G-O-P hopes of winning a veto-proof majority in the Arizona Legislature.

Fields ruled that Jones engaged in forgery to get a place on the September primary ballot when he signed at least nine petitions as the circulator "knowing that he did not obtain the electors' signature in his presence."

That finding of petition forgery by a candidate triggered a provision in state law requiring that all the candidate's nominating petitions be disqualified.