A legal challenge to Doyle Heffley's re-election campaign has been withdrawn before it ever got to a hearing.

Two residents of Penn Forest Township filed a lawsuit late last month challenging nominating petitions filed by state Rep. Doyle Heffley as part of his re-election effort.In a suit filed late last month, Matthew Schutter and Ted York said that they had concerns about nearly half of the roughly 800 signatures that Heffley collected to get on the ballot for the April 26 Republican primary.A hearing had been set for March 11.However, they realized even with their challenges, that Heffley has more than enough signatures to get on the ballot. Schutter, a Libertarian, said Thursday afternoon that he has withdrawn the case, but still believes that many of the signatures were invalid."Since 2008, every presidential election the Libertarians get challenged, I felt it was time to push back," Schutter said.Heffley, who is unopposed in the primary, is seeking his fourth term representing the 122nd district in the General Assembly. His presumptive Democratic opponent, 29-year-old Neil Makhija, is also facing a ballot challenge.The suit challenging Heffley's petitions was filed in commonwealth court on Feb. 22. Schutter and York alleged that 330 of the signatures submitted by Heffley's campaign were not valid. Schutter said that most of the issues arose when people wrote their mailing address - such as Lehighton or Palmerton - instead of their actual municipality - Mahoning, Franklin or Lower Towamensing Township.Schutter said he challenged Heffley's petitions because he has seen the same thing happen to Libertarian candidates in Carbon County.But a petition challenge has to come from within the party, so York joined as a co-defendant."Mr. York is sick of it. He's a registered Republican. We're tired of the bullcrap from the GOP and DNC," Schutter said.In order to secure a place on the primary ballot, candidates must collect signatures from a specified number of people registered in their district and their party. For the General Assembly, 300 signatures are required to get on the ballot.Heffley submitted about 790 signatures by the Jan. 16 deadline.Contacted Tuesday afternoon, Heffley said that he stood 100 percent behind his petitions, and had been working with Schutter and York to address their concerns."This is something that's part of the process - anybody has the ability to object, there are laws that need to be followed," he said.Schutter and a representative from Heffley's campaign went through the signatures on Tuesday and determined that Heffley had more than enough, leading the men to withdraw their suit.Schutter said he will now seek a place on the ballot for November's election, as a Libertarian."I am happy Mr. Heffley is on the ballot. I am going to be running as a Libertarian," he said. "I'd love to debate him and I'd love to beat him in November."