JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Rep. Courtney Allen Curtis isn’t backing down in his attempt to get on the ballot for the District 14 Senate seat.
In an email sent out Wednesday morning, the representative wrote about how the Missouri Democratic Party had refused his filing fee and implemented a rule to keep him off the ballot as a Democrat, saying that “at a time when top Missouri Democrats are asking for the unlikely resignation of Bob Burns for being seemingly sympathetic to racist rhetoric, I, Courtney Allen Curtis, a State Representative from Ferguson, am being denied the right to run as a Democrat.” He says it’s “simply undemocratic.”
Curtis faces unpaid fines with the Missouri Ethics Commission, which the Democratic Party cited in their decision to refuse his filing fee. Curtis says that he is in the process of challenging the most recent decision by the MEC.
He says that the Democrats are taking their time to respond to his lawsuit regarding his attempt to get on the ballot, and with the primary approaching, he said his attorney will “prepare for, and take the following actions” to ensure that the people of the 14th Senatorial district will have the opportunity to vote for him.
Curtis says those actions are:
1. Sue to prevent the ballot from being officially closed
2. File for an injunction to prevent the printing of the primary ballots
3. File for an injunction to prevent the 14th senatorial primary from taking place
4. File for an injunction to prevent the winner of the race without me on the ballot from being seated
5. Suing to compel a new election if a resolution is not reached prior to the election taking place
“It’s unfortunate that things have come to this point, but as a person that believes in the democratic process it is a worthy, and necessary fight to have,” he wrote. “I assure you that I will fight, and see this through to the end; I only hope the Missouri Democratic party will do the right thing, and stop using an unconstitutional law against a citizen of Ferguson.”
Benjamin Peters was a reporter for The Missouri Times and Missouri Times Magazine and also produced the #MoLeg Podcast. He joined The Missouri Times in 2016 after working as a sports editor and TV news producer in mid-Missouri. Benjamin is a graduate of Missouri State University in Springfield.
