A Republican justice of the peace seeking re-election in Dallas County is accused of making up names and addresses to get on the ballot for the March primary.

Brian Hutcheson, like all candidates, had to submit a petition with signatures of supporters to appear on the ballot. But his list includes addresses that don't exist, signed by people who couldn't possibly live there, WFAA-TV (Channel 8) reports. Hutcheson is the justice of the peace for Dallas County Precinct 2, Place 1, which oversees Garland, Mesquite, the Dallas County portion of Rowlett and parts of Dallas, Balch Springs, Wylie and Sachse.

"It is a lot of hard work. It took me about five to six weeks to get signatures,” said Democrat Margaret O’Brien, who is running for the JP slot. "I mean it's outrageous, actually, that someone who holds a public office would do something like that. People should be upset about it.”

O’Brien, who faces Anthony Eiland in the Democratic primary, filed a lawsuit against Hutcheson. The suit is pending with a trial scheduled for next month. Hutcheson doesn’t have a primary opponent.

An attorney for Hutcheson, Ken Emanuelson, said that if there is a problem, Hutcheson isn’t to blame. It could have been caused by someone who gathered signatures for the judge.

"We'll have to look at what happened. Did we have a volunteer — and again, I'm taking a devil's advocate position that you are correct — was there a volunteer that became overenthusiastic and for whatever reason ..., ” Emanuelson told WFAA.

When shown that Hutcheson's name is listed on the paperwork as the person who collected the signatures, Emanuelson said: “I'll have to be looking at that.”

The Dallas County GOP is looking into the allegations.

Residents who live on the streets where the questionable signatures were allegedly collected say they don’t know the people who signed and said some of the addresses don’t exist.

Judi King has lived in the 3500 block of Casa Ridge Drive in Mesquite for more than 50 years. The petition's signatures list 3528 and 3529 Casa Ridge, which don’t exist.

“I’ve never heard of the numbers,” she told the station. “I'm the last 35 number.”

Early voting began Tuesday. Election Day is March 6.