Sen. Hale to be on Ariz. ballot

By Independent staff

GALLUP — Albert Hale’s name will be on the ballot in Arizona’s Sept. 2 primary.

The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Monday in Hale’s favor, ruling that signatures that included a post office box and not a street address were valid.

The question was brought up by Royce Jenkins, Hale’s Republican challenger for the state Senate position that includes the Navajo Reservation.

Although Hale and Jenskins both face no opposition in the primary, the Supreme Court was forced to make a decision on the matter during one afternoon based on briefs with no oral arguments in order to provide time to get the primary ballots printed.

Hale said Monday he felt good about the decision, adding that if the ruling had gone the other way, it would “not only have disenfranchised voters who lived on the Navajo Reservation, but many voters who lived in rural Arizona as well.”