There is a lot of discussion about the VA primary ballot fiasco. In a lot of ways, this development is a Rorschach test of what is wrong with out country today. Lots of stupid rules that are used by those in power in play gotcha games with the governed. Well, I am a big fan of forcing those in power to swallow that which they force the rest of us digest.
It is noteworthy that few online sources actually quote the entirety of Section 24.2-506 which strikingly fails to provide petition requirement for a Presidential candidate:
§ 24.2-506. Petition of qualified voters required; number of signatures required; certain towns excepted.
The name of any candidate for any office, other than a party nominee, shall not be printed upon any official ballots provided for the election unless he shall file along with his declaration of candidacy a petition therefor, on a
form prescribed by the State Board, signed by the number of qualified voters specified below after January 1 of the year in which the election is held and listing the residence address of each such voter. Each signature on the petition shall have been witnessed by a person who is himself a qualified voter, or qualified to register to vote, for the office for which he is circulating the petition and whose affidavit to that effect appears on each page of the petition.Each voter signing the petition may provide on the petition the last four digits of his social security number, if any; however, noncompliance with this requirement shall not be cause to invalidate the voter’s signature on the
petition.The minimum number of signatures of qualified voters required for candidate petitions shall be as follows:
1. For a candidate for the United States Senate, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or Attorney General, 10,000 signatures, including the signatures of at least 400 qualified voters from each congressional district in the Commonwealth; [Note the absence of "President" from this list]
2. For a candidate for the United States House of Representatives, 1,000 signatures;
3. For a candidate for the Senate of Virginia, 250 signatures;
4. For a candidate for the House of Delegates or for a constitutional office, 125 signatures;
5. For a candidate for membership on the governing body or elected school board of any county or city, 125 signatures; or if from an election district not at large containing 1,000 or fewer registered voters, 50 signatures;
6. For a candidate for membership on the governing body or elected school board of any town which has more than 1,500 registered voters, 125 signatures; or if from a ward or other district not at large, 25 signatures;
7. For membership on the governing body or elected school board of any town which has 1,500 or fewer registered voters, no petition shall be required;
8. For a candidate for director of a soil and water conservation district created pursuant to Article 3 (§ 10.1-506 et seq.) of Chapter 5 of Title 10.1, 25 signatures; and
9. For any other candidate, 50 signatures.
Rhe requirements for a Presidential candidate are not specifically identified in the statute, it seems like there is room to argue that the requirements for a Presidential candidate are provided in subsection 9 which pertains to “other” offices. I hate sloppy statute drafting as much as a hate inside politics games playing. A campaign could use this argument to take on both.
Moe Lane
PG DeFreese
Victoria Coates
Daniel Horowitz
Dan Spencer
This is a way to change the outcome
JSobieski (Diary) Monday, December 26th at 7:50PM EST (link)shame the VA legislature into changing their statute
and poking the GOP establishment in the eye all at the same time.
But I suspect that I will be in the minority on this as well.
My rules of the road for primary season.
Rule #1: Vote for YOUR first choice in the primaries
Rule #2: Vote for the R in the general.
Rule #3: Don’t let anyone convince you to violate Rule #1 or Rule #2
Rule #4: When in a center-right argument, reaffirm Rules #1-#3–it will help us all to get along better.
Rule #5: If you are using the language of the left, you probably aren’t furthering conservativism
Rule #6: The priority is issues first, candidates second, and supporters third. Nobody is bigger than the issues. Conversely, if you spend your time focusing on supporters, you are wasting everyone’s time.
STOP THE MADNESS!
A reduction in the rate of spending increases is NOT a cut!
In-state tuition for illegals is NOT amnesty!
Requiring someone to pay their medical bills is NOT an individual mandate!
Reducing tax rates is NOT a tax increase!
Not from my viewpoint you aren't
lineholder (Diary) Monday, December 26th at 7:55PM EST (link)Okay, so what if it isn’t exactly some sugar-coated total capitulation that completely and totally relieves said candidates from any real or perceived failure to act in a prudent manner and follow the letter of the law to begin with…
This could work. And that’s a lot better than what we’ve got now.
Many thanks, JSob
Thanks lineholder--maybe one of the campaigns will actually think about making this argument?
JSobieski (Diary) Monday, December 26th at 7:57PM EST (link)nt
My rules of the road for primary season.
Rule #1: Vote for YOUR first choice in the primaries
Rule #2: Vote for the R in the general.
Rule #3: Don’t let anyone convince you to violate Rule #1 or Rule #2
Rule #4: When in a center-right argument, reaffirm Rules #1-#3–it will help us all to get along better.
Rule #5: If you are using the language of the left, you probably aren’t furthering conservativism
Rule #6: The priority is issues first, candidates second, and supporters third. Nobody is bigger than the issues. Conversely, if you spend your time focusing on supporters, you are wasting everyone’s time.
STOP THE MADNESS!
A reduction in the rate of spending increases is NOT a cut!
In-state tuition for illegals is NOT amnesty!
Requiring someone to pay their medical bills is NOT an individual mandate!
Reducing tax rates is NOT a tax increase!
I think they should at least consider it,
lineholder (Diary) Monday, December 26th at 8:05PM EST (link)evaluate it through and through, determine what it would take, and actually follow through with it this time….
Yeah, wow, the VA GOP would definitely choke in the process of swallowing this one. But to a certain extent, it is just for it to be that way, JSobieski, because they should have fully implemented the law when it was written rather than dealing with it in a half-[donkey's-backside] way. They do have a certain amount of culpability in this, whether they like it or not.
Perry & Gringrich have nothing to lose at this point
izoneguy (Diary) Monday, December 26th at 8:11PM EST (link)Since they are not the “establishment” candidates.
The point cannot be made often enough: Modern liberalism, as embodied in the Obama presidency, is the defender of the status quo. And the status quo is a road to economic ruin. Political forces cannot redistribute the wealth that the economic system does not produce.
Exactly, izoneguy!
lineholder (Diary) Monday, December 26th at 8:14PM EST (link)This may be well worth the trouble it takes, all the way around.
5 x 5 If you're in a minority, it contains at least two
David123 (Diary) Monday, December 26th at 8:12PM EST (link)Looks like you’ve found a win-win-win solution for the short term.
The win-win-win is actually a win for Romney, Gingrich, and Perry if both Gingrich and Perry are put on the ballot based on having achieved at least 50 valid signatures. Gingrich and Perry win because they get to compete for delegates in Virginia. Romney also wins, because if he does get the nomination, it will be much easier for him to unify the party and win the general election if he is perceived as having won the nomination FAIRLY. If the voters in Virginia get to choose among Romney, Paul, Gingrich, and Perry and they choose Romney, fine.
For the long term, I agree with your post(s) in another thread about having fewer simpler laws. I think there should be a simple uniform nationwide requirement to get on the ballot of each state as a presidential candidate.
David123
A very nice find there, J. Sobieski.
acat (Diary) Monday, December 26th at 8:38PM EST (link)Not hard to believe they got it this wrong – with all the money made off of books of “stupid laws you won’t believe” …
This sharp, pointy stick also points right at the establishment…
Skewer them!
Mew
——
Caveat Suffragator
Of course it took a blogger at REDSTATE to draw attention to this
izoneguy (Diary) Monday, December 26th at 8:41PM EST (link)Glaring oversight in Section 24.2-506 of the VA voting code.
I guess REDSTATE will need to forward this info to the Perry & Gringrich
campaigns.
The point cannot be made often enough: Modern liberalism, as embodied in the Obama presidency, is the defender of the status quo. And the status quo is a road to economic ruin. Political forces cannot redistribute the wealth that the economic system does not produce.
I think the "intention" was clearly to cover state-wide elections
JSobieski (Diary) Monday, December 26th at 8:49PM EST (link)but I don’t see why the intentions necessarily matter.
Number of ways this entire issue is incredibly and offensively stupid
Laws enacted but not enforced
Enforcement delegated to political parties to the point of making the laws meaningless
Laws enacted with sloppy omissions—er ..uh… where is the President listed
It is precisely these kinds of issues that make me angry
Rest assured that the in-crowd plays by different rules than the regular folks
My rules of the road for primary season.
Rule #1: Vote for YOUR first choice in the primaries
Rule #2: Vote for the R in the general.
Rule #3: Don’t let anyone convince you to violate Rule #1 or Rule #2
Rule #4: When in a center-right argument, reaffirm Rules #1-#3–it will help us all to get along better.
Rule #5: If you are using the language of the left, you probably aren’t furthering conservativism
Rule #6: The priority is issues first, candidates second, and supporters third. Nobody is bigger than the issues. Conversely, if you spend your time focusing on supporters, you are wasting everyone’s time.
STOP THE MADNESS!
A reduction in the rate of spending increases is NOT a cut!
In-state tuition for illegals is NOT amnesty!
Requiring someone to pay their medical bills is NOT an individual mandate!
Reducing tax rates is NOT a tax increase!
Total GC amen on the column - btw, have you ever read Philip Howard's Life Without Lawyers or
Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary) Monday, December 26th at 10:06PM EST (link)The Death of Common Sense? They make your point.
Mike DeVine’s Examiner.com, Charlotte Observer and The Minority Report columns
“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson
noncompliance with this requirement shall not be cause to invalidate the voter's signature on the petition
izoneguy (Diary) Monday, December 26th at 8:52PM EST (link)§ 24.2-506. Petition of qualified voters required; number of signatures required; certain towns excepted.
So what “cause” is Virginia stating that Perry & Gringrich’s signatures were thrown out? It says: noncompliance with this requirement shall not be cause to invalidate the voter’s signature on the petition.
OK, it looks like Virginia does not even have specific requirements for President under this code. So it looks like this is what applies:
9. For any other candidate, 50 signatures.
The point cannot be made often enough: Modern liberalism, as embodied in the Obama presidency, is the defender of the status quo. And the status quo is a road to economic ruin. Political forces cannot redistribute the wealth that the economic system does not produce.
The non-compliance being referred to in that section refers to social security number
JSobieski (Diary) Monday, December 26th at 9:03PM EST (link)Not address non-compliance.
Take it up with the non-compliance section of the office of compliance (a Mark Steyn joke)
My rules of the road for primary season.
Rule #1: Vote for YOUR first choice in the primaries
Rule #2: Vote for the R in the general.
Rule #3: Don’t let anyone convince you to violate Rule #1 or Rule #2
Rule #4: When in a center-right argument, reaffirm Rules #1-#3–it will help us all to get along better.
Rule #5: If you are using the language of the left, you probably aren’t furthering conservativism
Rule #6: The priority is issues first, candidates second, and supporters third. Nobody is bigger than the issues. Conversely, if you spend your time focusing on supporters, you are wasting everyone’s time.
STOP THE MADNESS!
A reduction in the rate of spending increases is NOT a cut!
In-state tuition for illegals is NOT amnesty!
Requiring someone to pay their medical bills is NOT an individual mandate!
Reducing tax rates is NOT a tax increase!
Not a joke in healthcare, JSob
lineholder (Diary) Monday, December 26th at 9:07PM EST (link)We’ve got more interwoven offices of that sort than people might imagine
Somebody get a hold of Team: Perry and Newt
bzip Monday, December 26th at 9:05PM EST (link)I sure hope Team Perry, Team Newt gets a hold of these findings. Is this really true, it couldn’t be that easy could it…I am just amazed.
No specific mention of president in this and on top of that, the SSN noncompliance.
If anyone has contacts to Team Perry, Team Newt make sure they really do read this.
I can’t believe this.
I support Governor Rick Perry. Join the Tea and Fed Up Blog.
Follow @WilliamKronert
Thank you, JSobieski, for this find....
nathanalbright (Diary) Monday, December 26th at 8:59PM EST (link)….and I’m sure it will be coming soon to a courtroom near you. VA just keeps on looking worse and worse with this.
24.2-545 addresses presidential primaries
satchman3 Monday, December 26th at 9:12PM EST (link)24.2-545 seems to address the presidential primary requirements explicitly.
Are you saying 24.2-506 is in conflict with 24.2-545?
Satchman3---nice find--this does change everything
JSobieski (Diary) Monday, December 26th at 9:22PM EST (link)http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+24.2-545
I need to look at this after I get back from the bar.
§ 24.2-545. Presidential primary.
A. The duly constituted authorities of the state political party shall have the right to determine the method by which the state party will select its delegates to the national convention to choose the party’s nominees for President and Vice President of the United States including a presidential primary or another method determined by the party. The state chairman shall notify the State Board of the party’s determination at least 90 days before the primary date. If the party has determined that it will hold a presidential primary, each registered voter of the Commonwealth shall be given an opportunity to participate in the presidential primary of the political party, as defined in § 24.2-101, subject to requirements determined by the political party for participation in its presidential primary. The requirements may include, but shall not be limited to, the signing of a pledge by the voter of his intention to support the party’s candidate when offering to vote in the primary. The requirements applicable to a party’s primary shall be determined at least 90 days prior to the primary date and certified to, and approved by, the State Board.
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.
The State Board shall transmit the material so filed to the state chairman of the party of the candidate immediately after the primary filing deadline. The sealed containers containing the petitions for a candidate may be opened only by the state chairman of the party of the candidate. The state chairman of the party shall, by the deadline set by the State Board, furnish to the State Board the names of all candidates who have satisfied the requirements of this section. Whenever only one candidate for a party’s nomination for President of the United States has met the requirements to have his name on the ballot, he will be declared the winner and no presidential primary for that party will be held.
C. The names of all candidates in the presidential primary of each political party shall appear on the ballot in an order determined by lot by the State Board.
D. The State Board shall certify the results of the presidential primary to the state chairman. If the party has determined that its delegates and alternates will be selected pursuant to the primary, the slate of delegates and alternates of the candidate receiving the most votes in the primary shall be deemed elected by the state party unless the party has determined another method for allocation of delegates and alternates. If the party has determined to use another method for selecting delegates and alternates, those delegates and alternates shall be bound to vote on the first ballot at the national convention for the candidate receiving the most votes in the primary unless that candidate releases those delegates and alternates from such vote.
E. The election, or binding of votes, of delegates to a political party’s national convention for the nomination of that party’s candidates for President and Vice President of the United States through the presidential primary process shall be considered to be equivalent to a primary for the nomination of a party’s candidate.
F. The cost of the presidential primary shall be paid by the Commonwealth pursuant to the provisions of the appropriation act.
My rules of the road for primary season.
Rule #1: Vote for YOUR first choice in the primaries
Rule #2: Vote for the R in the general.
Rule #3: Don’t let anyone convince you to violate Rule #1 or Rule #2
Rule #4: When in a center-right argument, reaffirm Rules #1-#3–it will help us all to get along better.
Rule #5: If you are using the language of the left, you probably aren’t furthering conservativism
Rule #6: The priority is issues first, candidates second, and supporters third. Nobody is bigger than the issues. Conversely, if you spend your time focusing on supporters, you are wasting everyone’s time.
STOP THE MADNESS!
A reduction in the rate of spending increases is NOT a cut!
In-state tuition for illegals is NOT amnesty!
Requiring someone to pay their medical bills is NOT an individual mandate!
Reducing tax rates is NOT a tax increase!
"The requirements applicable to a party’s primary shall be determined at least 90 days prior to the primary date and certified to, and approved by, the State Board"
JSobieski (Diary) Monday, December 26th at 9:25PM EST (link)Was this complied with?
I believe the answer is yes.
“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,”
Note the word “may” instead of “shall”.
This statute is a mess.
My rules of the road for primary season.
Rule #1: Vote for YOUR first choice in the primaries
Rule #2: Vote for the R in the general.
Rule #3: Don’t let anyone convince you to violate Rule #1 or Rule #2
Rule #4: When in a center-right argument, reaffirm Rules #1-#3–it will help us all to get along better.
Rule #5: If you are using the language of the left, you probably aren’t furthering conservativism
Rule #6: The priority is issues first, candidates second, and supporters third. Nobody is bigger than the issues. Conversely, if you spend your time focusing on supporters, you are wasting everyone’s time.
STOP THE MADNESS!
A reduction in the rate of spending increases is NOT a cut!
In-state tuition for illegals is NOT amnesty!
Requiring someone to pay their medical bills is NOT an individual mandate!
Reducing tax rates is NOT a tax increase!
Nice point. You would think Perry and Gingrich could dredge this up...
snowshooze (Diary) Monday, December 26th at 9:35PM EST (link)And take it to the VA. Republicans.
I am sure they have their own Attorneys on the payroll, and were I either Candidate right now, I would be wondering why I was paying them.
Rather than a pack of conservative bloggers kicking things about on their own time… .
Someone posted it in one of Moe's diaries
satchman3 Monday, December 26th at 9:27PM EST (link)I can’t take credit for finding the statute
"The requirements applicable to a party’s primary shall be determined at least 90 days prior to the primary date and certified to, and approved by, the State Board"
JSobieski (Diary) Monday, December 26th at 9:30PM EST (link)The law actually provides for screwing over the insurgent candidate.
The VA legislature really does need to answer for this.
My rules of the road for primary season.
Rule #1: Vote for YOUR first choice in the primaries
Rule #2: Vote for the R in the general.
Rule #3: Don’t let anyone convince you to violate Rule #1 or Rule #2
Rule #4: When in a center-right argument, reaffirm Rules #1-#3–it will help us all to get along better.
Rule #5: If you are using the language of the left, you probably aren’t furthering conservativism
Rule #6: The priority is issues first, candidates second, and supporters third. Nobody is bigger than the issues. Conversely, if you spend your time focusing on supporters, you are wasting everyone’s time.
STOP THE MADNESS!
A reduction in the rate of spending increases is NOT a cut!
In-state tuition for illegals is NOT amnesty!
Requiring someone to pay their medical bills is NOT an individual mandate!
Reducing tax rates is NOT a tax increase!
JSob, questions
lineholder (Diary) Monday, December 26th at 10:10PM EST (link)Go back one page, to 24.2-544B. If I’m reading this correctly it says that any information pertaining to filings deadlines has to be provided for access to candidates prior to Aug. 1.
My question is this: Although this specifically states filings deadlines, wouldn’t it also be applicable if some element of the process required for candidates had been altered? (Such as going from lax to stringent application of the law?)
The VA GOP didn’t make alterations in the process until Oct 22 (when lawsuit by Independent candidate was filed in court). Do the dates matter here?
yes, 24.2-545 addresses presidential primaries is what I
lizzie Monday, December 26th at 9:35PM EST (link)thought was a separate statute.
I keep wondering if Gingrich and Perry used the wrong “containers” or maybe there was a problem with their attached “…list of the names of persons who would be elected delegates and alternate delegates to the political party’s national convention…”
wrong kind of containers, or wrong material used for the “seal” – sound like a hanging chad offense
Sorry, I used to work in the packaging industry, so I wonder what kind of container and what kind of seal was required.
well, still think this was a story timed to bolster Romney’s “electability” and “competence” and take Gingrich and Perry down before Iowa.
wonder if we shall ever know why Huntsman, Bachmann, and Santorum did not even try to file in Virginia. And whether THAT part of this story will impact Iowa and NH.
This VA "story" was timed to impact the Iowa caucus
lizzie Monday, December 26th at 9:18PM EST (link)because almost all the media echo is about the ‘incompetence’ of Gingrich campaign, (and much lesser extent Perry).
I just watched the FOX ‘news’ interview with Bevan of RealClearPolitics, posted at RCP. That is all they talked about.
The Christian Science Monitor is the only news source that even tries to make the VA ballot hurdle the main point of their story.
You watch – after NH, somehow Virginia will – oops- we made a mistake – but the timing of this is dirty politics mostly designed to make ‘electability’ a reason for Iowans to caucus for Romney, or Paul, who is now getting some real dirt echo thrown back at him – another RCP post that goes to his temperament and character.
This week is all about dinging Gingrich and Paul in Iowa.
Still, I think there is a different VA statute that covers the ballot access for presidential primaries than the one cited by JSobieski above. But, I am not so well organized. Just glad that RCP suddenly started using Disqus for comments because I have a different screen name in Disqus, and it was a great pleasure to comment on that FOX-Bevan video, using quite a bit of detail from RedState’s coverage of this – you never know how solid comments CAN change the media echo.
or at least make Paulbots admit that Ron Paul was subject to the Doctor Draft of the Selective Service of 1948 and would never have served in the military otherwise
That was in Intense Debate.
If y’all really want to stop Romney and Paul, you have to change the media echo that most people get.
btw, Larry Sabato now saying this ballot access mess has made the Virginia presidential primary irrelevant.
.
.
Two additional nuggets of observation re: VA Statute
JSobieski (Diary) Monday, December 26th at 9:18PM EST (link)(1) The requirements are not discretionary—the language is “shall” not “can”. So the GOP really shouldn’t be able to weaken/lower the standard in any way.
(2) The law does not provide for delegating decision making/enforcement to the political parties. So whatever the GOP said about anything should be irrelevant.
If the legislature intended for the “requirements” to be only “options” then the statute should say that.
Can conservatives not see that the true problem is a meaningless law that the state has promised not to enforce, and leaves enforcement to the political parties which benefit from inside baseball?
The tragedy is not the impact to Perry or Newt—it is a legal system that gives dictatorial power to the insiders and makes it very hard for the outsider to get on the ballot.
My rules of the road for primary season.
Rule #1: Vote for YOUR first choice in the primaries
Rule #2: Vote for the R in the general.
Rule #3: Don’t let anyone convince you to violate Rule #1 or Rule #2
Rule #4: When in a center-right argument, reaffirm Rules #1-#3–it will help us all to get along better.
Rule #5: If you are using the language of the left, you probably aren’t furthering conservativism
Rule #6: The priority is issues first, candidates second, and supporters third. Nobody is bigger than the issues. Conversely, if you spend your time focusing on supporters, you are wasting everyone’s time.
STOP THE MADNESS!
A reduction in the rate of spending increases is NOT a cut!
In-state tuition for illegals is NOT amnesty!
Requiring someone to pay their medical bills is NOT an individual mandate!
Reducing tax rates is NOT a tax increase!
JSob, did you see satchman3's comment upthread? [nt]
lineholder (Diary) Monday, December 26th at 9:23PM EST (link),
I did---and my first impression is three things
JSobieski (Diary) Monday, December 26th at 9:28PM EST (link)(1) The GOP probably did comply with the 90 day requirement
(2) Given the delegation of power to the GOP, why any non-establishment campaign wouldn’t strive to obtain clear legal compliance is puzzling.
(3) Note use of the word “MAY” instead of the word “SHALL” and the absence of the word requirement.
My rules of the road for primary season.
Rule #1: Vote for YOUR first choice in the primaries
Rule #2: Vote for the R in the general.
Rule #3: Don’t let anyone convince you to violate Rule #1 or Rule #2
Rule #4: When in a center-right argument, reaffirm Rules #1-#3–it will help us all to get along better.
Rule #5: If you are using the language of the left, you probably aren’t furthering conservativism
Rule #6: The priority is issues first, candidates second, and supporters third. Nobody is bigger than the issues. Conversely, if you spend your time focusing on supporters, you are wasting everyone’s time.
STOP THE MADNESS!
A reduction in the rate of spending increases is NOT a cut!
In-state tuition for illegals is NOT amnesty!
Requiring someone to pay their medical bills is NOT an individual mandate!
Reducing tax rates is NOT a tax increase!
May not Shall. Magic (the Gathering) Players Know the Difference
quill67 (Diary) Monday, December 26th at 10:13PM EST (link)I agree with you that this law is a mess. My lawyer friend plays Magic (the gathering) and hewould have a field day with this one. Everyone knows “May” is much different from “shall” or “must”
That being said, I would imagine a court would go with the of the law but I am sure some lawyer would know what is common in VA.
Nice job, JSob!
racetraitor Monday, December 26th at 9:23PM EST (link)Now could you send a really nice letter to the Perry campaign on your nice letterhead? (I’m assuming you have nice letterhead; mine was pretty nice, back in the Stoneage when I had a paying job).
I want you to know that I deeply respect your respect for the rule of law. It just gores my ox that the VAGOP slimeballs might get away with their dirty tricks.
Go Perry!
Any word from Virginia today?
snowshooze (Diary) Tuesday, December 27th at 3:37PM EST (link)Riots at party headquarters yet?
Or in this case, streams of well dressed Attorneys with their clerks in tow? I would hope so.
I think the VA GOP is trying to
Scope (Diary) Tuesday, December 27th at 4:11PM EST (link)stop the bleeding from the mess, and has been eerily quiet. I doubt you will hear much more from the VA GOP and the elites here in the state. There was a small blurb in the Richmond times Dispatch, which just said that Gingrich will probably not get on the ballot.
It’s interesting that Gingrich is always the one talked about, while the fact that Perry was thrown off also isn’t news. I’ve wondered what Gov. McDonnell thought of the mess, and the article quotes his spokesman- “McDonnell is neutral so far in the GOP nomination contest, but through his spokesman he has made his views clear that the rules for getting on the ballot were well known.”
Romney is the only candidate McDonnell has campaigned with. I doubt there will be much candidate campaigning here except with Romney and Paul. They will not drop a ton of money into the state, which seemed to be what some of the party insiders wanted, which was for Virginia to get more attention, and to drop the money into the state that is dropped in Iowa, NH and SC. They blew that, all expect for making the state irrelevant in the primaries.
I did read today that a former Democrat party official in VA, and an attorney, was going to do some kind of legal thing to get the candidates back on the ballots, so the voters voices are all heard, and that the voters were not disenfranchised. Too funny, a Democrat is fighting for fairness for the Republican candidates. Isn’t that sad?
Sad, no, but funny. Any help is good help in this.
snowshooze (Diary) Tuesday, December 27th at 4:22PM EST (link)But I do hope for and expect fully that blood will be spilled over this.
( Figuratively )
So maybe it will take a couple days to get the ball rolling.
I do not wish to see this one fade away without a spirited battle.
JSobieski, I think "other than a party nominee" part probably means that this section is not about primaries, but getting your name on general election ticket
teme Tuesday, December 27th at 4:10PM EST (link)I think that might mean this section is about if some random independent or member of some non-major party party wants to get on the general elections ticket for some office. Would be hilarious though if presidential general election ticket could be flooded this easily with 50 signatures, maybe there is something in addition.
“specified below after January 1 of the year in which the election is held and listing the residence address of each such voter.”
Also the Republican primary signatures had to be collected after July 1, unlike January 1 in this section, so my guess would be this section is about getting your name on general election ticket as non-Republican/non-Democrat candidate.
Well, there are so many hole in this sorry mess..
snowshooze (Diary) Tuesday, December 27th at 4:45PM EST (link)We have examined at least a half dozen solid pieces of contradictory evidence, and the consensus is that the laws are completely juvinile, haven’t been followed and the sum total is the chaos we are just starting to see.
You know what you get when you put a bunch of idiots in the same room?
The Virginia Republican Party.
actually I would amend that to
kyle8 (Diary) Tuesday, December 27th at 4:48PM EST (link)Just the Republican Party in general. It ain’t called the stupid party for nothin.
“Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty”
Kyle
Possibly you could help with some better jokes..
snowshooze (Diary) Tuesday, December 27th at 5:29PM EST (link)At this point, humiliation is very much on the table as a weapon.
Those guys deserve everything they get. pfffft.
Any fresh news from Virginia?
snowshooze (Diary) Wednesday, December 28th at 3:00PM EST (link)I saw that Perry claims 6,000 signatures, is he possibly trying to cash out at the observed threshold that had been used by the Democrats of 5,000?
I am still wondering if he is going to challenge on the 50 signatures required under ” All Others” which appears to be valid.
I don't think that this challenge will be successful.
joshdunn Thursday, December 29th at 4:01AM EST (link)It’s an interesting idea. I’m glad that you posted the language of the statute.
My question is: is there enough time for Perry to get onto the ballot even if he wins in court? Don’t the names have to be on the ballot by January 19th so that service personnel overseas can get an accurate ballot? (Pursuant to the MOVE Act)
I know that there is a deadline for the ballots to be printed. Does anyone know what that deadline is?
I’m still shocked that Perry, Gingrich, Santorum, Huntsman, and Bachmann all failed to get enough signatures to qualify. It sounds like all 5 of them were asleep at the switch when Paul and Romney were out gathering signatures.
The only ones to blame for this debacle is the candidates themselves. Its called personal responsibility. Stop making excuses for them.
joeyjojoshabadoo79 Thursday, December 29th at 1:03PM EST (link)Perry and Gingrich in particular have absolutely no excuse for not getting the signatures. Ill vote for whoever gets the nom, but this reflects badly on both of them.