AG comments on presidential primaries after Gingrich, Perry debacle
Virginia’s Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli, says the Commonwealth’s law for ballots for presidential primaries needs changed.
Cuccinelli, who recently said he would challenge Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling for the governorship in 2013, told supporters in an email that Virginia should relax requirements for candidates seeking to make the ballot for presidential primaries.
This comes after former Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry – both former front-runners – failed to make the Super Tuesday March 6 primary ballot along with other candidates.
Congressman Ron Paul of Texas and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney are the only two Republican candidates to qualify for the ballot.
The state of Virginia requires candidates to obtain 10,000 verified signatures from registered voters across the state, including 400 from each Congressional district.
Attorney general Cuccinelli proposes 100 legitimate signatures per congressional district.
“It now appears that the only two candidates that will be on Virginia's ballot on March 6th: Governor Mitt Romney and Congressman Ron Paul,” Cuccinelli says. “While I'm glad for them, it screams out for making our ballot more accessible.”
“I have had the opportunity to talk to a number of the candidates and their campaigns in the last month or so, and the Bachmann folks tell me that Virginia is the third hardest ballot access state in the country. I personally don't think that's a good thing.”
The Attorney General informs readers that to get on the ballot, a presidential candidate has to collect 10,000 legitimate signatures across Virginia – county by county and city by city – with at least 400 legitimate signatures in each congressional district. Virginia's State Board of Elections recommends that campaigns come in with over 15,000 signatures, including over 700 from each congressional district given what a high proportion of signatures typically fail some requirement or another.
“I would throw out for consideration that we should lower our requirements to 100 legitimate signatures per congressional district.”
“Let's face it, absent a serious write-in challenge from some other candidate, Virginia won't be nearly as 'fought over' as it should be in the midst of such a wide open nomination contest. Our own laws have reduced our relevance. Sad,” he writes.
“I hope our new GOP majorities will fix this problem so that neither party confronts it again. I for one would like Virginia to be heard from in our nomination process, and I'm sure you would too.”
Currently, state law prohibits the possibility of a write-in challenge; something the Newt Gingrich team seemed unaware of despite the fact the former Speaker is a resident of the Commonwealth.
On Christmas, Gingrich expressed hope that the legislature would change that law prior to the March 6 primary, saying: “If something’s wrong, they ought to fix it.”
The change is unlikely, however, as it would require the legislature to enact emergency legislation immediately upon convening next month, requiring a supermajority according to a report by the Richmond Times-Dispatch
The roadblock presents the other Republican candidates an opportunity to show both campaigns are “foolish and disorganized,” says Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor.
“It speaks volumes to me about the particular organizational skills of the candidates,” Mr. Tobias told the Los Angeles Times Saturday. “It’s hard for me to understand how they could miss this opportunity.”
Indeed, at a rally held last week in Arlington, Va., Gingrich admitted his campaign was not prepared for his recent surge in popularity in the polls.
“We weren’t ready for it yet because we don’t have the structure and we don’t have the money to compete at that level, so we had to scramble a little bit,” Gingrich said.
In fact, Gingrich is leading among Virginia Republicans, according to a recent survey by Quinnipiac University, taken Dec. 13-19. Among the 489 registered Republican voters, 30 percent said they were planning to vote for Gingrich, with 25 percent for Romney, 9 percent for Paul and 6 percent for Perry.
Not getting on the Virginia ballot is particularly embarrassing for Gingrich, considering it is now his home state. Gingrich, who was born in Pennsylvania and served two decades in Congress as a representative from Georgia, now resides in McLean.
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