THE SPECIAL election for US Senate has posed a logistical challenge for some potential candidates. The already brief period allotted for gathering the 10,000 certified signatures needed to make the primary ballot was further truncated by the recent blizzard, which lopped off a precious weekend of signature-garnering time.

That could prove a particular problem for prospective GOP candidates. Three of them — businessman Gabriel Gomez, former US Attorney Michael Sullivan, and state Representative Dan Winslow — have said they will run, making for a spirited and informative primary. But first they have to get on the ballot. Only registered Republicans and unenrolled voters can sign their nominating papers; because Republicans are only about 11 percent of the state’s voters, GOP hopefuls have a smaller group to gather from.