Attorney wants new Pearce recall ballots

MESA, AZ - An attorney who filed a lawsuit in the recall election of State Senator Russell Pearce says he wants new ballots printed.

Tom Ryan claims the ballots contain the name of what he calls a sham candidate, Olivia Cortes , who he wants removed.

Approximately 70,000 ballots were printed over the weekend with the names of all three candidates: Pearce, Cortes, and Jerry Lewis.

However, 102 of the ballots have already been shipped off to military members overseas.

Ryan plans to make his case to a judge Thursday morning.

He alleges that Cortes is a sham candidate.

Ryan tells ABC15 the Tea Party recruited Cortes to run for no other reason than to ensure Russell Pearce wins the recall election.

Ryan claims Cortes' candidacy will siphon off voters from Pearce's other challenger, Jerry Lewis, thereby ensuring a Pearce victory.

Ryan admits it would be an added expense to reprint all the ballots.

But in order to have a fair election, he says it needs to be done.

"If there is an expense to the taxpayers, to ensure we have purity of elections, the anger ought to be directed to the right party," said Ryan.  "That's the individuals pushing this sham candidate."

A spokesperson for the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office doesn't know if reprinting the ballots is even feasible at this point.

They may not have to depending on what the judge decides Thursday morning.