Feb 21, 2024 By Mike Jones 3 min read

Randy Barli has withdrawn his paperwork to run in the Democratic primary for the 50th state House District after his party planned to challenge his petitions over accusations that he forged numerous signatures, including the names of nine people who were dead.

According to the state Department of State’s website that lists all candidates, Barli withdrew his name Sunday after filing to run five days earlier for the state House seat that includes all of Greene County and a portion of the Mon Valley in Washington County.

Barli, 69, of Coal Center, had filed his petitions with 344 signatures, which were slightly more than the 300 needed to get on the ballot to run for the legislative position ahead of the April 23 primary. But soon after the Feb. 13 filing deadline, Washington County Democratic Committee Chairwoman Christina Proctor said her party noticed numerous irregularities in his petitions, which raised concerns about the validity of Barli’s candidacy.

“We found what appeared to be nine signatures of people who are deceased,” Proctor said. “We contacted other people whose signatures appeared on (Barli’s petitions) who said they did not sign it.”

The nine deceased people who were included in the petitions had died within the last two years, while numerous other names had outdated voter information, indicating Barli was working from an older registration list. In total, Proctor said they had planned to challenge at least 70 signatures, which if proven to be invalid would have been enough to get Barli removed from the ballot.

Proctor said that Barli is listed as the circulator for all of the petitions, raising concerns that he may have personally forged the signatures. People who circulate petitions must sign a pledge that “the information set forth herein is true and correct” or they could face a misdemeanor charge of unsworn falsification to authorities. It’s not known if authorities are investigating Barli’s conduct.

“The Democratic Party was calling him out,” Proctor said. “What he did was illegal and unacceptable. Even from a Democrat, we don’t accept that behavior and wanted him off the ballot.”

Proctor said they attempted to contact Barli last week about the numerous irregularities they found, but were only met with silence. The local Democrats had planned to file a challenge to Barli’s petitions by Tuesday afternoon’s deadline, but decided against it upon learning that he had already withdrawn his candidacy.

Barli did not respond Tuesday to a phone message or email seeking comment on why he decided to withdraw from the race. He has run for numerous positions in the past, including several ill-fated campaigns for Washington County commissioner and the state Legislature.

Proctor said the Democrats now plan to have Drew Ross Manko of North Bethlehem Township run a write-in campaign to get on the ballot for the 50th state House District. If successful, he would run in the Nov. 5 general election against either state Rep. Bud Cook of West Pike Run or Stephanie Waggett of Cumberland Township, who is challenging the incumbent in the Republican primary.

No challenges had been filed for any other candidates as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the state Department of State’s elections website.