Posted on 12/24/2011 10:37:52 AM PST by Jim Robinson
~~snip~~
"A Gingrich campaign official prior to the move by the Republican Party of Virginia said the problem is how the rules are set up, arguing that the party is, for apparently the first time, cross-checking the addresses that signature-givers gave against the electronic voter database file for accuracies. A name without a proper address match was tossed, the official said."
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
Here’s why I think Gingrich is conservative and Romney is a progressive liberal:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2821720/posts
Here’s why I think Gingrich is conservative and Romney is a progressive liberal. Their records of actual accomplishments are diametrically opposed:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2821720/posts
I’m back from a big argument over at HA about whether or not write-in votes in VA primaries are allowed but optional, or are outright prohibited under VA law.
It turns out that there is language at 24.2-529 that trumps 24.2-664. It unequivocally prohibits write-in votes in primaries.
I stand corrected.
> He is welcome to challenge it but I don’t think challenging the verification process is going to help him succeed. This is a wakeup call.
Indeed. If Newt wants to win, his team is going to have to not only take the fight to the Zer0 Election Machine, but to be smart about it. This wasn’t smart, and I hope Newt takes it as a challenge to tighten up his organization.
(BTW Merry Christmas to all!!!! Thanks for being my sanity lifeline, I’ve got some liberal relatives here and I’m biting my tongue to keep family harmony. :-)
Thanks Jim.
I wish you and yours a wonderful Christmas. :)
The requirements to be on either the R or D primary ballot in VA are set by statute. That would be the state legislature, where the majority goes back and forth between the parties. The RPV’s only role is to certify the candidates who met the requirements. The Governor, Lt. Gov and AG, in their official capacities, are irrelevant to this process.
These requirements have been in effect for several presidential election cycles. In ‘08, six (6) GOP candidates managed to get on the VA GOP presidential ballot. Something went terribly wrong in the Perry/Gingrich ground game.
“Yes, and Americans aren’t particularly tolerant of bureaucrats.”
With respect, our recent history hasn’t shown much intolerance.
Is there any evidence that Newt & his campaign will take this tack?
“It has never been challenged until now and is very much in trouble. On several counts.”
We’ll see and I really hope your proven to be right. Filing a lawsuit is easy. Winning it, not so easy.
Surely there must be some non-activist judges around that are not threatened by Gingrich.
“Merry Christmas RKBA Democrat!!!!”
And a very Merry Christmas to you as well!! Our savior was born tonight; this political silliness will too pass.
As for your point, as I said to another poster...I really, really hope you’re right and this is overturned in the courts. While my own ox isn’t being gored here, I still think it is fundamentally wrong to deny folks ballot access. This is the same trick that is perpetually played on 3rd parties. Two or more wrongs don’t make a right.
That would be wrong. There was no “grandfather” clause, and Ron Paul didn’t have 15,000 signatures, so he wouldn’t have gotten in under that rule.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Cain didn’t have a stack of 10,000 valid signatures for Virginia. He was collecting signatures at our general election — which is what ALL the candidates should have been doing.
There's that saying again.
I think it's, "I trust that guy (Romney) as far as I can throw him."
Without that requirement, what stops a candidate from submitting a bogus list. Stop making excuses for incompetent campaign management.
The opening salvo of the New Order. The GOP knows its still the Dems turn. Obama will have his eight, and then it is the GOP’s turn again. Or so the Rino GOP believes ...
No. The RPV owns the 15K "safe habor" rule, not the state legislature.
It was the Safe Harbor rule that gave Mitt a free pass and disqualified Newt and Perry.
“If he can’t GOTV here, what makes you think he’s going to be able to GOTV against Obama?”
That’s a very good point. FWIW, I think he simply didn’t put the necessary resources into play and didn’t realize how difficult the ballot access requirements are in VA.
That said, one of the problems facing Newt (and Bachmann, and Cain before him) is that while he might have some wide appeal, it’s not deep or particularly committed. On the other hand, mittens has had years to prepare, raise funds, and get the gop-e in his back pocket. Ron Paul has a veritable army of dedicated supporters.
This is one of the reasons why I support RP; unlike the other candidates, he has the dedicated people and resources to mount a serious challenge. The only other person that I know of within the gop who could do that is Sarah Palin.
I’m sorry. It is presumed that if someone is a serious candidate to be the leader of the free world, that they won’t be making up names and throwing them on petitions just to get on the ballot.
Maybe that’s more trust than we should put in our candidates, but that is the point. We assume that some signatures won’t be valid, through no fault of the petitioner (the person who signs the affidavit that they witnessed the signatures). But it is assumed that 2/3rds would be good, so if you get 50% more than needed, you are OK.
And it’s also assumed that 66% of the people would know what district they were in.
This is all based on the fact that the person who COLLECTS the signatures will sign an oath on each petition that they personally witnessed the signatures and verified that they signers claimed to be in the district.
The people who check the signatures are all volunteers. Nobody really wanted to be sitting around 2 days before Christmas, and if you can get your candidates to collect 15,000 signatures and avoid that, what’s the problem?
We aren’t upset that some made the ballot, we are upset that some DIDN’T. Actually, when it was just Perry getting knocked off, most of those in THIS thread weren’t really all so upset, and some were positively giddy talking about how stupid Perry was not to get signatures.
But when it was their OWN candidate, suddenly it was a big conspiracy, and they had to fight the system, and, well, I won’t say what they sound like because I understand the frustration.
I hope you’re right and the courts allow both Gingrich and Perry on the ballot. While my ox isn’t the one being gored here, I still don’t like it one little bit. I think it’s fundamentally wrong. I’m not optimistic about a court challenge, though.
As for allowing a write-in, it’s not required by VA law.
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