Green Party Calls for Probe of "Sham Candidates"

The Arizona Green Party will ask a judge on Thursday to remove 11 of the party's nominees from the November ballot.

The party calls the nominees "sham candidates" and says they were placed on the ballot "to mislead voters and rig the election process."

Greens and Democrats say the Republican Party took advantage of a little-known provision in election law that applies only to the Green Party. It allows people to become a Green Party nominee with a single write-in vote.

Greens are asking the judge to prohibit use of that system and to remove from the ballot 11 of the party's 18 candidates.

Maricopa County Elections Director Karen Osborne says she needs to know by 7 a.m. Friday which names will be on the ballot.