Federal Judge Rejects Catoosa GOP’s Motion to Omit Candidates from Ballot

A federal judge declined to grant the Catoosa County Republican Party’s petition to restrict four candidates who they feel don’t represent the party’s values from the ballot.

The Catoosa County Republican Party filed a motion not to let those candidates–Larry Black, Jeff Long, Steven Henry, and Vanita Hullander–run with an R beside their names on the ballot.

The Catoosa County Republican Party claimed the candidates’ decisions in office did not align with Republican Party values.

U.S. District Court Judge William Ray heard the Catoosa County GOP arguments on April 17 and entered an order declining to stop the elections process this week.

“The (Catoosa GOP) asks the court to strike the candidates’ names, to order that no ballots cast for the candidates be counted, and to order that the requested questions be included on the ballot,” the judge wrote in the order. “After review, the court denies the (temporary injunction and restraining order) because the requested relief would not be in the public’s best interest.”