Topeka ? With just a few minutes to spare, Horace Edwards delivered his petition to run as an independent candidate for the U.S. Senate.

“It has been an 11th-hour operation,” said Edwards, who served as secretary of the Kansas Department of Transportation under former governor Mike Hayden.

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About five minutes before the noon deadline, Edwards handed over to the secretary of state’s office a box of petitions with the signatures of 5,267 names, and paid a $20 fee.

To get on the ballot by petition, a candidate for Senate must provide signatures of at least 5,000 registered voters.

It will take one or two weeks before it can be determined whether Edwards will indeed be on the ballot in the November general election as election officials start the process of verifying the signatures.

Edwards, 79, said he had to use the petition process because he decided to run after the filing deadline for candidates.

“The regrettable part is that I arrived at the conclusion that I need to run do this extremely late in the game,” he said.

Edwards said he would like to replace U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, a Republican, because Brownback has focused on social conservative issues.

“The priorities are skewed and narrowed,” he said.

Signature gatherers had set up in several places in Lawrence the past couple of weeks to help Edwards.