Dan Coats got the Signatures
By: Marchelle McConnell
Updated: February 11, 2010
Former Senator, Dan Coats has enough signatures in our district to put his name on the primary ballot for Senator. The Allen County Republican Headquarters opened their doors today to Dan Coats volunteers to get signatures to get on the primary ballot.
On Wednesday, Coats announced he plans to challenge senator Evan Bayh for his Indiana senate seat.
Former Senator Dan Coats has until February 16th at noon to get 4,500 signatures statewide. Our district gave Coats over 561 signatures today. The minimum required from a single district is 500.
Steve Shine, the Chairman of the Allen County Republican Party, says “Today's news conference is not an endorsement of any candidate. In fact Allen County is the only republican organization in the state that has a set of bi-laws and those bi-laws preclude the endorsement of any candidate in a preliminary.”
A family who's known Coats prior to his political career showed up to gather signatures. Rose Marie Mcehlenkamp, says “We were absolutely thrilled when we found out they were running and hoping they can bring a little sanity to what's happening.”
Coats joined the race much later than the other 4 candidates. A supporter of Coats, Paul Lagnann, is optimistic Coats will get the needed number of signatures. Lagnann says “The number of votes will certainly be achieved by the deadline. We have volunteers all over the state who are canvassing every district daily and the numbers are racking up very quickly.”
Voters Registration verifies every signature is a registered voter. All 561 signatures from out district have been approved. Verification of remaining signatures will continue Friday.
You can sign the petition at
Republican Headquarters:
Friday 12:00 -6:00 p.m.
Saturday 9:00 -1:00 p.m.
Voters Registration:
Located in the City County Building, Room 132
Monday 8:00 – 5:00 p.m.
