HARTFORD, Conn. -- An obscure rule may force two candidates in Hartford's mayoral race off the ballot for the Sept. 11 primary.

City Hall said signatures for candidates Minnie Gonzales and I. Charles Mathews could be thrown out.

Obscure Rule May Knock Two From Mayoral Race

Both candidates had people going door-to-door to collect signatures to get their names on the primary ballot.

However, the same people who collected names for the candidates also collected signatures for a slate of City Council challengers. The second petition had a fake mayoral candidate on it, but City Hall said it was a candidate nonetheless.

There is a rule against collecting signatures for two mayoral candidates.

"At that point, the secretary of state's team of attorneys started looking at this and spent 36 hours going over it," said Derek Slap of the secretary of the state's office.

The attorneys agreed that a conflict of signatures exists for the two candidates and that the signatures could be thrown out.

The city Democratic Registrar of Voters is now busy crunching numbers to see if the candidates still have enough legitimate petitions to make the ballot. To make the primary ballot, 1,400 signatures are needed.

"It's likely that they'll be, I would think one of the candidates at least, getting an attorney and probably seeing what the legal process could do for them," said Slap.

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