JOHNSTOWN — Democratic U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire should be booted from the 12th Congressional District primary ballot because he did not file enough valid petition signatures, a court challenge filed Tuesday by his Democratic rival contends.

An Altmire staffer expressed confidence in the three-term congressman’s chances but did not address specifics of the legal challenge.

If a judge agrees that Altmire does not have the required signatures, that would leave Johnstown-based U.S. Rep. Mark Critz as the lone Democrat pursuing the party’s nomination – short-circuiting an expected battle between incumbent congressmen.

Critz’s campaign officials said they are challenging the validity of more than half of the 1,651 names on Altmire’s nomination petitions. Among the allegations made by the Critz camp: Some signatures supporting Altmire “appear to have been forged by a circulator.”

“All candidates for office are required to follow state law when gathering signatures for nominating petitions, and members of Congress are not exempt,” Critz campaign attorney Scott Caulfield said in a prepared statement.

“It is clear that Jason Altmire’s campaign did not follow the law in this process and lacks the number of signatures required under law. Therefore, he does not qualify to appear on the ballot.”

Angela Ruslander, Altmire’s campaign manager, issued a one-sentence response.

“We will not comment on this until we have a chance to review the complaint, but we feel very confident that Jason Altmire will be on the ballot and will be the Democratic nominee from Pennsylvania’s 12th district,” Ruslander said.

Critz and Altmire must face off in the April 24 primary because they both reside in the new 12th District, which was redrawn by state Republican lawmakers during the decennial redistricting process. Altmire lives in Pittsburgh’s North Hills.

Both Democrats have been campaigning in the redesigned 12th District, which stretches from Cambria County to the Ohio border.

But the legal challenge, filed in Harrisburg before the state Commonwealth Court, claims Altmire should not appear on the primary ballot at all because 942 of the 1,651 signatures on his nomination petitions are invalid.

Candidates need 1,000 signatures to make the ballot.

The court document, which lists three Johnstown residents and a Windber woman as “objectors” to the Altmire petitions, claims “defects, irregularities, and unmistakable pattern of impropriety in obtaining the affixed signatures, addresses and dates as well as the signatures and statements of the circulators.”

In addition to the forgery allegation, the Critz announcement also said hundreds of signatures “appeared on petitions circulated by an Altmire staffer who currently lives in the City of Pittsburgh – outside the district.”

Overall, 610 signatures should be tossed due to “defective circulator’s affidavits,” the Critz campaign said.

Other, more-technical reasons also were cited for removing additional signatures. They include the names of people who signed illegibly; are not registered to vote; used nicknames or initials; omitted information; and omitted or cited an incorrect municipality.

The court will set a hearing date to consider the objections.

The 12th District has hosted such petition battles before. In February 2008, a judge ruled that Republican William Russell did not have enough valid signatures after a challenge was filed by supporters of then-U.S. Rep. John Murtha.

However, with no other GOP candidates running that year, Russell received enough write-in votes in the primary to win the Republican nomination anyway.

He went on to mount a forceful but ultimately unsuccessful campaign against Murtha in the general election, a victory that turned out to be the veteran Democratic lawmaker’s last before he died in February 2010.

It would be extremely difficult for Altmire, if he is removed from the ballot, to follow Russell’s path. Altmire would have to garner enough write-in votes to top an incumbent congressman – Critz – whose name would be the only one listed for Democratic voters.

The lone Republican who filed papers to run in the 12th District is Keith Rothfus, an Allegheny County attorney who narrowly lost to Altmire in 2010.

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