Democrat fails to get Alice Lara knocked off healthcare district ballot

A Democrat running for the healthcare district board in district 5 (South Phoenix) attempted to get the other four candidates knocked off the ballot by claiming some of their petition signatures were invalid. (Candidates only need to collect a couple hundred signatures for that race, making signatures little more than a symbolic gesture) Most of the signatures challenged had small technical problems, such as a letter was spelled wrong in their address or something - not as if they weren't valid registered voters living in that district. One of the candidates being challenged was represented by an election attorney, who pointed out that the challenger failed to name the Maricopa County Recorder/Elections and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in the suit, and didn't serve them either. Judge Burke asked the challengers, "Do you see the Board of Supervisors sitting here in the courtroom?" There was no one from the Board of Supervisors there. Judge Burke said he was dismissing the complaint. This is good news for solid conservative candidate Alice Lara(right), who as the only Hispanic in the nonpartisan race, has the best shot at winning the seat in heavily Hispanic South Phoenix.