Respondents to online poll support signature challenge

Sixty-six percent of readers who responded to this week’s InMaricopa.com poll said they support mayoral candidate Christian Price’s challenge to 15 signatures he thought were invalid on opponent Carl Diedrich’s petitions.

The question was “Do you think Christian Price should have challenged Carl Diedrich’s signatures?” and the survey was online Jan. 13 until Friday morning.

Pinal County Superior Court Judge Gilberto Figueroa ruled earlier this month only five of the signatures were invalid and Diedrich met the signature requirement to stay on the ballot for the March 13 mayoral primary.

Of the 188 respondents, 124, or 66 percent said they favored Price’s challenge, 50, or 27 percent, said they disagreed with the challenge and 14, or 7 percent, were not sure.

Price said the poll results support his actions and, despite the judge’s ruling in favor in Diedrich, his decision will not harm him politically.

“I did not do it for any political gain,” he said.

Diedrich pointed out the poll is not scientific and there is no way to know where the respondents live or if any were encouraged by his opponent’s campaign to respond in favor of their candidate.

Diedrich said he wants to put the signature challenge behind him and move on to the next step, which is the candidate forum scheduled for next Saturday.

“I am looking forward to questions from the community and the opportunity to ask Christian questions,” he said. “They can evaluate the candidates as they are and what our goals are instead of trying to decipher from the blogosphere.”

Price also said he looks forward to the forum. “I can’t wait,” he said.