Court clears way for entrepreneur Hugh Lytle to run for Arizona governor as an independent

Independent candidate for Arizona
governor Hugh Lytle is still in the running after both challenges trying
to block him from the ballot were rejected. 

“The judge’s decision is not a
personal win for me,” Lytle said in a Wednesday statement. “It’s a win
for the voters, for democracy and for Arizona’s growing Independent
movement which gains momentum every day.”

Lytle is a wealthy entrepreneur who collected voter signatures under the Arizona Independent Party label, but a court ruled last month that the party must revert to its former name, the No Labels Party. 

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge
Michael Mandell on April 14 dismissed the only remaining challenge to
Lytle’s candidacy, ruling that, while his nomination petitions to get on
the ballot didn’t follow the letter of the law exactly, they broadly
complied with state statutes and did not mislead voters. 

The legal challenge was brought by
Democratic activist Craig Beckman, but Lytle claimed that Gov. Katie
Hobbs, also a Democrat, was behind it. The Hobbs campaign declined to
comment. 

The other legal challenge against
Lytle, brought by fellow Arizona Independent Party candidate for
governor Teri Hourihan, was dismissed last week. 

Beckman claimed that Lytle didn’t
qualify for the ballot because the address on his petitions was a
private mailbox in a UPS Store where the candidate receives his mail,
not his residential address. 

Even though Arizona law requires
candidates to use their residential address on petitions, Mandell wrote
that courts “do not remove candidates from the ballot for mere technical
departures from the statutorily required forms.”

Because both the UPS Store and
Lytle’s home are in Scottsdale, and Lytle is the only person with that
name registered to vote in Arizona, the use of the UPS Store mailbox did
not mislead voters who signed Lytle’s petitions about the identity of
the candidate, Mandell wrote. 

“I hope this matter is resolved and I
hope Governor Hobbs can shift her focus from voter suppression to
making Arizona affordable for so many of its struggling families,” Lytle
said in the statement. “We need a break from the state sales tax on
gas. We need ESA reform. We need help for first time home buyers. While
Governor Hobbs can’t find the time to make these issues a priority, I
will from the first day I take office.”