Three Mercer Countians with ties to the Democratic Party and 3rd District Congressional candidate Kathy Dahlkemper are challenging independent candidate Dr. Steven Porter’s nominating papers.

Dominic Vadala of Hermitage, Alice Bell of Sharon, and former Farrell councilman Anthony DeMartinis are challenging about 2,000 of the 3,000 signatures Porter’s campaign gathered to get him on the November ballot, said Shawn Gallagher, a Pittsburgh attorney who represents the challengers.

Porter needed 2,171 valid signatures to get on the ballot. He acknowledged Wednesday filling in some information that could invalidate signatures but said none were forged.

Porter ran and lost twice before in the 3rd District as a Democrat, trying to beat incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Phil English in 2004 and 2006.

Porter, who complained about a lack of party support in his last bid for the seat, decided to run as an independent this year and Mrs. Dahlkemper won the Democratic nomination in a four-way primary race.

The challenges to Porter’s signatures run from cut-and-dry to complex. In some cases, Gallagher said a signer was not registered to vote.

In others, similarities in handwriting from one signer to the next suggests someone handling the nomination papers helped people fill in information like addresses, he said.

Porter said he handled almost all of the papers himself, and may have assisted people who asked him for help.

“Occasionally, I would fill something out if a person couldn’t write, or if their hands were wet, or their hands were busy, and they’d just say, ‘would you just put in the address,’” Porter said.

He said he “never, never” forged a signature or signed someone’s name for them.

Gallagher said a petition signer must fill in all information, including addresses, by themselves to be considered valid.

“To say because of a technicality that if a part of that line was put in by another hand, that they don’t have the right to nominate someone, is really a blow to justice and representation in this democracy,” Porter said.

He said dropping signatures off the petition for technicalities will also disenfranchise voters who did everything right and want to see him on the ballot.

One of the petition challengers, DeMartinis, is in charge of Mrs. Dahlkemper’s Mercer County campaign, said the county’s Democratic Chairman Robert Lark.

Mrs. Dahlkemper’s campaign manager, Tina Mengine, has said they were aware DeMartinis and the others wanted to challenge Porter’s signatures.