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Texas
inmate earns write-in spot in Ky. presidential primary
Democratic
presidential hopeful Keith Russell Judd is a write-in
candidate in the May 20th Kentucky presidential primary. |
By
JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette
Thursday,
April 16, 2008, 2 a.m. -- A Texas prison inmate
has earned a spot as a write-in candidate in Kentucky's Democratic
presidential primary on May 20th.
Keith
Russell Judd, 49, an inmate housed at the Beaumont Federal
Correctional Institution in Texas since 1999, has been successful
in his quest to be a write-in candidate in the 2008 Kentucky
presidential primary.
Judd
claims he has qualified as a candidate in more than 20 states,
including California, Indiana and Florida.
While
Judd's name won't appear on the ballot in Kentucky, his name
will be on the ballot in the Idaho Democratic primary. Judd
submitted the required notarized form, a check to cover the
$1,000 filing fee, and that was all that was necessary. His
name will appear alongside fellow Democrats Sen. Barack Hussein
Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
It's
a situation that has Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa fuming.
"We got conned,'' Ysursa told The Spokesman-Review of
Spokane, Wash. But since Idaho's delegates are chosen at party
caucuses, Judd's candidacy won't impact the primary results.
''The
good thing is the Democratic presidential primary has absolutely
no legal significance,'' Ysursa said. "There was nothing
legally to keep him off. We may rethink how we get on our
presidential ballot next time."
In
his declaration, Judd listed as a campaign office telephone
number the city desk news tip line at the Beaumont Enterprise
newspaper in Texas. On a Project Vote Smart profile, Judd
gave an Internal Revenue Service line in Ohio for the number
of his campaign coordinator telephone.
According
to prison officials, Judd sent out about 14 checks to states
seeking to get on the primary ballot. About half of the checks
were returned.
Judd's
Project Vote Smart profile states that he has been a candidate
for president every year since 1996. He also has twice run
for Mayor of Albuquerque (1993 & 1997), and once for Governor
of New Mexico (1994).
Judd
was a write-in candidate in Idaho four years ago, but he did
not get any votes.
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