It takes 1,000 signatures to get on the ballot in Pennsylvania for a seat in the House of Representatives.

Congressman Glenn Thompson has faced no primary challengers since he first won election to a seat in Congress in 2008.

A Punxsutawney man, George Rathmell, tried to be the first in the upcoming primary election. In the 15th District.

But a Commonwealth Court judge tossed his nominating petitions — which removes his name from the ballot — in the wake of an objection filed last month.

Senior Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt issued the opinion on April 8.

Rathmell, the opinion states, filed with 1,306 signatures but objectors challenged over 400 of those signatures.

Two specific issues scuttled his attempt to challenge Thompson.

The first has to do with how Rathmell listed his occupation which, according to the opinion, was as a “Army Chaplain, Pastor, Volunteer.”

The objectors asserted Rathmell was no longer a chaplain.

Leavitt cited a post-hearing brief where Rathmell “argues that although he is no longer on active military duty, he was not stripped of his title as Army Chaplain. He explained that his life revolves around devotion to God and that is why he thought it was important to include Army Chaplin as his occupation. Further, Candidate argues that he received no instructions that he could not list the occupation from which he retired on the Nomination Petition.”

The court did not accept that explanation.

“Candidate listed his occupation as Army Chaplain, although he was a former or retired Army Chaplain. In any case, a former occupation is not a current occupation.”

Leavitt ruled that the occupation issue is a “facial defect that is material and incurable” to his nomination petitions.

However, even if she had not ruled on those grounds, Rathmell would have fallen short of the required 1,000 signatures that the law requires based on stipulations and rulings that struck signatures for a variety of reasons.

Six pages were struck because there was no evidence Rathmell or those circulating the petitions “informed each signer” that he was running for the office of representative in the 15th District, a condition that could have “misled” voters.

Signatures were struck because information was written in the hand of someone other than the signer, some for not using their registered address, others for not being registered as a Republican or registered to vote at all. Five were struck for using nicknames or initials and one “was so illegible it could not be verified.”

Three additional signatures were removed because voters are only allowed to sign one petition per office.

The total number of signatures left in the wake of the challenge was 978.

“In sum, the signature line review demonstrated that Candidate did not secure the required number of valid signatures under the law or rehabilitate a sufficient number of signatures to reach the required 1,000 valid signatures required by law,” the order states.

Thompson faces no Democratic challenger on the ballot but Ronnie Ray Jenkins is running a write-in campaign for that nomination, according to his Twitter account and ballotpedia.

Thompson has not been seriously challenged for the seat since his initial election.