SIGNATURES NOT PREVIOUSLY CHECKED IN VIRGINIA

RightWingNews.com/ ^ | December 25th, 2011 | Richard Winger

[Yosemitest]

December 25th, 2011, Edited by Richard Winger

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, on notarized sheets,
and which had at least 400 signatures from each U.S. House district, 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, six Republicans qualified: John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Rudy Giuliani, and Fred Thompson
(an earlier version of this post erroneously said Alan Keyes qualified in 2008, but he only qualified in 2000).

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.

[Sun]

“After Only 2 Qualify for Presidential Primary, Virginia GOP Chair Says State Should Change Election Law

By Terence P. Jeffrey
December 28, 2011
snip

“I was not happy at all in signing that certification with only two names on it,” Virginia GOP Chairman Pat Mullins told CNSNews.com on Tuesday.”

Read it all:
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/after-only-2-qualify-presidential-primary-virginia-gop-chair-says-state-should-change

[TaxRelief]

http://www.redstate.com/moe_lane/2011/12/26/did-the-va-gop-change-the-rules-on-primary-ballot-access-in-november-2011/

[CharlesWayneCT]

The Virginia Board of Elections published a letter sent to the candidates, explaining the ballot access rules. In those rules, the VBE stated that the petitions required full addresses.

The RPV had nothing to do with that, or the petition format itself which is also dictated by the VBE. If someone is misinterpreting the law, it is the Virginia state Board of Elections, and they have been doing so for a long time.

The RPV is given the task of verifying the petitions. They follow the direction of the VBE, so if the VBE says addresses are required, the RPV checks addresses.

It is of course possible that the VBE did not recognize a difference between state and federal elections that actually exists in the code. I doubt people have been looking at it all that much. Remember, in most cases without an address you can’t verify a signature is a registered voter. If the voter provided the last 4 digits of the SS number, that might uniquely identify them so an address would be redundant.

[combat_boots]

Virginia state Board of Elections

Follow the $$.
Like with Cain.
Or Trump.

Someone found something important to them and squeezed.

[combat_boots]

“As we see here, it WAS the Republi-Tard Party who ‘Changed the Rules’”

On the advice and authority of which operatives and of what party?

[CharlesWayneCT]

I wish I could believe the conspiracies, because then it would suggest competence. But sadly, that’s not what is at play here.

[combat_boots]

I am serious, not conspiratorial. Who are the advisors and influencers that made this happen?

[Yosemitest]

"FIrst of all, your link is bad. It just goes to the main page, not any article."

When you went to the main page, under (today Dec 28, 2011) "Tuesday, December 27, 2011", then under "Best of the Rest" you'll see "Signatures not previously checked in Virginia — Ballot Access News" which is a link to that article.
When I posted it, it was at the top of the page.

Facts are:

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.

My guess is ... when the trial is finished, then you'll have a better link to the facts.
I also GUESS that the "PERSUADED" Republican Party started checking the signatures on their petitions, to prevbent other law suites.

Third, I didn't know there was a problem with the "LGBT" link.
But it contained more information on editor Richard Winger than the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Winger link.

[blueyon]

Thank you

[upchuck]

Your reformatting of the article to add your own spin is not appreciated.

[upchuck]

When I posted it, it was at the top of the page.

That's because you did not post from the original source which is here: Virginia 2011 Independent Candidate for Legislature has Big Impact on 2012 Presidential Primary from Ballot Access News.

[Yosemitest]

Spin?
What spin?

[gogogodzilla]

The Virginia Board of Elections published a letter sent to the candidates, explaining the ballot access rules. In those rules, the VBE stated that the petitions required full addresses.

The RPV had nothing to do with that, or the petition format itself which is also dictated by the VBE. If someone is misinterpreting the law, it is the Virginia state Board of Elections, and they have been doing so for a long time.

Really? The presidential candidates for the 2008 Presidential primary elections did not need to submit addresses for their signatures... nor were they checked for validity.

So, to you, less than four years is 'a long time'?