Posted on 12/27/2011 3:48:28 PM PST by TBBT
Texas Gov. Rick Perry has filed suit in federal court against the Virginia Republican Party and the Virginia Board of Elections in order to gain a spot on the Commonwealth's primary ballot. Perry was excluded after the party found he had not submitted enough valid signatures by the deadline last Thursday. His campaign submitted 6,000 of the required 10,000, according to the suit. The lawsuit alleges that Perry's 1st and 14th Amendment rights were violated by the requirement that those circulating the petitions also be eligible or registered voters of Virginia. Failure to get on the ballot is a major embarrassment for the struggling Perry campaign but he is not alone. Another one-time GOP frontrunner, Newt Gingrich, also failed to qualify. "Gov. Perry greatly respects the citizens and history of the Commonwealth of Virginia and believes Virginia Republicans should have greater access to vote for one of the several candidates for President of the United States," Perry communications director Ray Sullivan said in a statement. "Virginia ballot access rules are among the most onerous and are particularly problematic in a multi-candidate election. We believe that the Virginia provisions unconstitutionally restrict the rights of candidates and voters by severely restricting access to the ballot, and we hope to have those provisions overturned or modified to provide greater ballot access to Virginia voters and the candidates seeking to earn their support."
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Perry is going to appear on Greta tonight, I believe....
I heard from someone in Iowa that Perry is getting such big crowds that the Des Moines Registers lead caucus columnist has switched from following the Bachmann campaign to Rick Perrys today!
Standing Room Only and he is working the crowd hard.
deal deal deal deal deal.
Oh, and there is a joker in the deck
deal deal deal deal deal
Oh, if the first card down is an ace, it can only be counted as low.
deal deal deal deal deal
The three of clubs is wild.
deal deal deal deal deal
Cannot raise more than three times the bet before you, unless you are wearing a hat.
deal deal deal deal deal
Hey hey hey, why lookee here, I win again! And...you lose!
freemont steve, the information quoted from that site is NOT from the Code of Virginia. The Code of Virginia requires 10K/400, not 15K/600, signatures of registered VA voters.
JV, the Code of VA most definitely does set the requirements to get on the primary ballot. It’s not a party rule that can be changed at will.
The 15K/600 number is what the RPV determined was an adequate number to be safe from elimination below the mandatory 10K, thus they bypassed the review of those petitions containing more than 15K signatures.
THIS is from the Code of VA and can be verified at:
http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?000+cod+24.2-545
§ 24.2-545. Presidential primary.
...
B. Any person seeking the nomination of the national political party for the office of President of the United States, or any group organized in this Commonwealth on behalf of, and with the consent of such person, may file with the State Board petitions signed by at least 10,000 qualified voters, including at least 400 qualified voters from each congressional district in the Commonwealth, who attest that they intend to participate in the primary of the same political party as the candidate for whom the petitions are filed. Such petitions shall be filed with the State Board by the primary filing deadline. The petitions shall be on a form prescribed by the State Board and shall be sealed in one or more containers to which is attached a written statement giving the name of the presidential candidate and the number of signatures on the petitions contained in the containers. Such person or group shall also attach a list of the names of persons who would be elected delegates and alternate delegates to the political party’s national convention if the person wins the primary and the party has determined that its delegates will be selected pursuant to the primary. The slate of delegates and alternates shall comply with the rules of the national and state party.
...
http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?000+cod+24.2-545
In Florida, candidates’ petitions are returned to the County Supervisors of Elections who checks names & addresses of signers.
Is it unusual to have the Republican Party of Virginia collect them and then decide who can go on the ballot?
Also I believe VA requires twice as many signatures as other states.
Sorry to say but I will never view Fox News in the same way again. They have made Fair and Balanced into some kind of a joke.
On the other hand the evidence is that Romney and his people ~ including Virginia’s Lt. Governor Bolling, CHEATED just like Democrats in Chicago.
Good for him! I hope he has the chance to do just that!
Well, open primaries can be frustrating for the party, but, generally, in states that have closed primaries voters simply switch parties before the cut-off date to vote in the primary of their choice. And states that allow voters to register as Independent gives them the option of choosing either the “R” or “D” ballot; that’s how Virginia does it since all registered voters in Virginia are, in effect, independent.
There is no registration by party in VA. When the primaries arrive, you go to your polling place and tell them you want an R or a D ballot. It’s horrible. Since there’s no D primary this year, the scenario you paint will be lived out, tho not as many as you’d suspect actually have not crossed over in the past.
Recall, last presidential primary, R’s were asking other R’s to go vote for Hillary because the R nomination was no longer in question. What goes around comes around.
The downside for cross-over voters is that their name gets on the other party’s solicitation lists and they get all the mail and calls from both parties, and nothing can stop it.
Bang!
Why isn’t this in BREAKING?
gary johnson is on right now. It looks like his face is melting. Yuck.
Rick Perry has a record to stand on in Texas and his stands on the issues have been consistent. I hope he does well in Iowa, but I believe our Sunshine state will more than likely be strong for Perry. :)
Earlier it was in Breaking News. I don’t know why it was removed, seems like it should qualify as Breaking News.
The Code of Virginia states: Would you care to point me to exactly which paragraph number in "Virginia code" states that which you quoted above? |
I saw Gary Johnson, too...he looked like scared chicken !
I thought that Perry was scheduled to be on Greta tonight, but it’s tomorrow night.
FNC people have gotten very lazy as well as biased....And Shannon Bream is among the worst informed.
What happened to ‘fair & balanced’?
I called FNC comment line to inform them about the recent VA GOP Rule changes:
1-888-369-4762 Press 3 then 1 to leave a comment.
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