Posted on 12/25/2011 4:41:06 PM PST by smoothsailing
December 25th, 2011
There are currently many news stories and blog discussions about the Virginia presidential primary ballot access law. Some large blogs, such as Red State, have over 300 comments about the story. Some defend the current Virginia ballot access laws on the grounds that in past presidential elections, a fairly large number of Republican presidential primary candidates managed to qualify.
But what has not been reported is that in the only other presidential primaries in which Virginia required 10,000 signatures (2000, 2004, and 2008) the signatures were not checked. Any candidate who submitted at least 10,000 raw signatures was put on the ballot. In 2000, five Republicans qualified: George Bush, John McCain, Alan Keyes, Gary Bauer, and Steve Forbes. In 2004 there was no Republican primary in Virginia. In 2008, seven Republicans qualified: John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, and Alan Keyes.
The only reason the Virginia Republican Party checked the signatures for validity for the current primary is that in October 2011, an independent candidate for the legislature, Michael Osborne, sued the Virginia Republican Party because it did not check petitions for its own members, when they submitted primary petitions. Osborne had no trouble getting the needed 125 valid signatures for his own independent candidacy, but he charged that his Republican opponent’s primary petition had never been checked, and that if it had been, that opponent would not have qualified. The lawsuit, Osborne v Boyles, cl 11-520-00, was filed in Bristol County Circuit Court. It was filed too late to be heard before the election, but is still pending. The effect of the lawsuit was to persuade the Republican Party to start checking petitions. If the Republican Party had not changed that policy, Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry would be on the 2012 ballot.
The Democratic Party of Virginia has been opposed to the strict law on primary ballot access, and has been in the habit of collecting signatures for all Democratic presidential candidates recognized by the party. In 2008, the state party collected 7,300 signatures for all its candidates, thus easing the burden on them and requiring them to collect only 4,000 to 5,000 on their own.
What I read yesterday was that it wasn’t the validity of the signatures it was the fact that they didn’t have enough. Newt was 2000 short.
Wow. So if the signatures were rejected because there’s no address, and the law doesn’t REQUIRE an address... well, something’s seriously WRONG in Denmark.
Kinda reminds of that situation in Jersey when Bob Torricelli dropped out of the race and the courts allowed Frank Lautenberg to step in (against the law) because they declared it was perfectly okay to ignore the law because... well, because the Democrats had to win and that’s what was gonna happen and shut up and that’s that.
“It bugs me that McDonnell doesn’t weigh in and that he can be seen as possibly not being even-handed.”
He’s a mittens fan. So is the LT Gov., Bill Bolling, who is apparently the one who submitted the petitions for mittens.
“Ken Cuccinelli probably ought to check out the Governor’s real relationship to this situation ~ maybe get him booted out of office so the Lt. Governor can move up ~”
LT Gov. Bill Bolling is apparently the one who submitted the petitions for mittens.
The fix is in.
Speaking of which, I got a chance to taste his corn and rye whiskey at the restored Distillery and Gristmill. Good stuff!
This is just heartbreaking. The wife died and the husband is in the hospital with life-threatening injuries. All on Christmas Eve morning, and all because they volunteered to spend a too-long day in Richmond to help their party. God bless them. And let us pray for his recovery.
I note they live in the same small town as the RPV Chairman, another reason (beyond its being Christmas) for no further statements after the results were announced. They were probably doing a favor for a friend and neighbor who buried his own wife last year.
“There’s a bit on one of the genealogy sites that notes dozens of ways Scots and Irish people invented to spell the same name. Some analysts attribute this to differences in dialects ~ others to ignorance. Most likely it was simple illiteracy.”
If by illiterate you mean they couldn’t read or write, I wouldn’t think they could spell - even incorrectly.
You are absolutely wrong! You see? This is how the press is handling this. That is a bald faced lie that has twisted your view of this.
Newt AND Perry collected over 11,000 signatures each.
The “counters” threw out 2,000 signatures because the addresses provided, were valid, but did not exactly match the way they were listed with state registry. (The way insignificant words were spelled, like; “1st St.” and “First Street”.
But even worse, this is the first time this kind of stupidity has even mattered..........(Coincidence?)
What’s your source on the spelling of the address causing a disqualification? I had read that 2,000 of Newt’s signatures did not include addresses at all.
Curious that this was the *very* first time that signatures/addresses were verified, don't you think? Prior to this, they would accept the signatures without verification. Then you have the situation where if you have 15K+ signatures, verification is not necessary. I wonder who had that many signatures? Why, it turns out it's the same candidate who had assisted with the verification! Shazam! Who is this dastardly person, you ask?
You won't get a word of this from the MSM. They have buried it and only say that Newt and Perry “failed” to get the minimum required 10,000; Which is an outright lie.
Well said!
People are getting whacked for political expediency already? It's kind of early for that isn't it? Someone nefarious, with lots of buying power, must be getting desperate. Don't expect any "reporters" to go after this story...
and I do believe Cuccinellis is pro Romney.
Illiterate.
Others noted that which is why I proposed The Cooch go after both these yahoos and take the job for himself ~ early ~
Since the Mitbots are involved in this one there was no intention whatsoever to go after any Democrats.
Obviously the system is designed to encourage forgery and corrupt practices. An honest delegate doesn't have a chance.
Discussion thread at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2825159/posts
It's a mind set that's incompatible with the requirements for governing in a democratic republic. Too much "legalism" can ruin the pie.
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