Mmoja Ajabu (WIBC.com file photo: Eric Berman)

An independent candidate for Congress will ask the Indiana Election Commission to reverse the rejection of his candidacy paperwork.

The Marion County Board of Voter Registration says Indianapolis pastor and activist Mmoja Ajabu turned in photocopies of his petition signatures, rather than the originals. Excluding those signatures leaves Ajabu about 13-hundred signatures short.

Attorney Paul Ogden contends the submitted signatures were originals, and says there's no requirement in state law that the signatures be the originals anyway. Ajabu says he's done his own cross-checking with the state's voter database, and claims he has the necessary three-thousand valid signatures if the photocopies are accepted.

Ajabu is challenging Seventh District Democratic Congressman Andre Carson and Republican opponent Carlos A. May. He ran for the same seat as a Democrat in 1996 against Carson's grandmother Julia.

A second would-be independent candidate, former Colts kick returner Devin Moore, also missed the ballot. The Indiana Election Division says his signatures weren't turned in by the deadline.

MORE FROM WIBC NEWS:
» Ajabu May Miss Congressional Ballot; Ex-Colt Files Candidacy (7-2-12)
» Seventh District Voters May Have Four-Way Race for Congress (6-26-12)
» Republican, Independent Join Seventh District Race (12-2-11)