2 GOP candidates challenge ruling on ballot name

AUGUSTA — Two Republican candidates for the Maine House of Representatives filed a lawsuit Friday in an attempt to overturn a ruling by state elections officials that their names cannot appear on the November ballot as GOP nominees.

Paul Shedd of Lincoln and Harry Ingalls of Biddeford filed their lawsuits in Kennebec County Superior Court in Augusta.

Secretary of State G. William Diamond said Ingalls’ name could not appear on the ballot as the GOP nominee because he was not registered to vote by April 1. Ingalls, a longtime Republican, said the rule doesn’t apply because he was a write-in candidate during the primary.

Shedd, also a write-in, enrolled as a Republican a week before the June 12 primary. He said the 90-day waiting period for enrollment changes required by state law does not apply to write-in candidates.