I still have found no indication that the suit had anything to do with any rules. And there certainly is nothing to suggest the 15,000 signature rule was in response to the suit.
I know that people have speculated that the RPV is only checking signatures because of that suit. But I exchanged e-mails with the prior RPV chair, and he confirms that they checked every signature and address for the 2009 state election — checking is NOT something they just started. To clarify, the 2009 signatures were for qualification for a convention, but the process is the same.
He could not confirm whether they checked in 2008 presidential primary though, since he became the chair after that primary. And of course, he could not confirm whether the RPV was planning on NOT checking this time, and then decided to check because of the suit. All I can say for certain is that this is NOT the first time they have paid attention to signature requirements.
I will also point this out — Gingrich has claimed that of his 11,000 submitted signatures, 1500 were fraudulent, because of a paid contractor. That means by his own admission, his campaign only submitted at most 9500 actual signatures.
The only way he would be on the ballot would be if the RPV simply accepted the signatures without regard to their validity. Knowing now that 1500 were forged, do you think they were right to check, or was it bad?
If you found out that Romney had forged 6000 signatures, so in fact his total was under 10,000, would you argue that he should still be on the ballot since he turned in papers with 10000 signatures?
I think there is a difference between having gotten 12000 different people to sign your forms, and then learning that more than 2000 of them signed the wrong forms, or weren’t registered (which is what we believe happened to Perry), and submitting 11000 signatures and finding that 1500 of them weren’t actually signed at all. Would you agree with that as well?
Will the paid contractor suffer consequences for his/her criminal act?