Democrat Chad Taylor is asking the Kansas Supreme Court to step in and prevent his name from appearing on the Nov. 4 ballot for the U.S. Senate.

Taylor filed the petition Thursday, asking for an order preventing Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach from placing his name on the ballot.

“Petitioner does not want to be a candidate for United States Senate in the 2014 election,” the motion stated. “He does not want the ballot for that election to associate him with that race or the Democratic Party for purposes of that race, because that association is likely to cause confusion among Kansas voters, who have a right to cast their votes free from misleading ballot information that would lead any reasonable person to believe that Petitioner was still in the race.”

Taylor, the Shawnee County district attorney, won the Aug. 5 Democratic primary election over Lawrence attorney Patrick Wiesner. But last week, without stating a specific reason, he filed a request with Kobach’s office, asking that his name be taken off the ballot.

Polls had shown Taylor running second in the race behind incumbent Republican Sen. Pat Roberts. But Taylor had had difficulty raising money compared with the better-financed independent candidate Greg Orman. Moreover, at least one poll had shown that in a hypothetical head-to-head race, Orman stood a better chance of unseating Roberts than Taylor did.

Taylor’s withdrawal came shortly after he had consulted with Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who has denied that she explicitly urged him to leave the race, but has said she discussed the situation with him.

Taylor filed his request for withdrawal shortly after 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 3, less than an hour before the deadline for making the request.

But the next day, after the deadline had expired, Kobach announced he would not accept Taylor’s request, citing a 1997 law that says candidates who have been nominated for an office may only be taken off the ballot if they have died, or if they declare that if elected they would be incapable of fulfilling the duties of the office.

In his motion to the Supreme Court, Taylor again did not specify a reason for withdrawing from the race. But he argued that he complied with the law by stating in his letter that the request was being made “pursuant” to the statute, and therefore was incorporating into his request the requirements of that statute.

“Thus, the plain language of the statute does not require the candidate to submit to the Secretary of State a reason for withdrawal or anything other than a notarized request in writing that the candidate’s name be withdrawn,” the petition stated.

He also argues that Kobach is not a neutral party in the case because he has endorsed Roberts in the senate race, and he suggests Kobach wants to keep Taylor’s name on the ballot to give an advantage to Roberts.

State GOP Chairman Kelly Arnold called Taylor’s action “selfish” and said the circumstances surrounding his withdrawal “stink of secret deals.”

It was not immediately clear Tuesday whether, if the court grants Taylor’s motion, the Kansas Democratic Party would be required to name another candidate in his place. The deadline for finalizing the ballot is Sept. 18.