Cuccinelli calls for easing of ballot requirements after Gingrich, Perry fail to qualify

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli would like to see Virginia relax its requirements for candidates to qualify for the presidential primaries, saying current state laws "have reduced our relevance," after two big-name GOP candidates failed to qualify for the GOP primary.

Cuccinelli opined that the commonwealth's requirements should be relaxed in the Dec. 26 edition of his e-newsletter, The Cuccinelli Compass, after former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry failed to qualify for Virginia's March 6 Republican presidential primary election.

Gingrich is launching a write-in campaign, which isn't allowed in primary elections in the commonwealth, and Perry has filed a federal lawsuit in hopes of gaining access to the ballot under state law.

In Virginia candidates are required to gather 10,000 signatures of registered voters in the state, including at least 400 from each of the commonwealth's 11 Congressional districts to qualify for the ballot. Officials from the state party organizations then certify the petitions for the State Board of Elections.

Cuccinelli suggested lowering the requirement in each Congressional district to 100 legitimate signatures.

"In 2012, Virginia won't be nearly as 'fought over' as it should be in the midst of such a wide open nomination contest," Cuccinelli wrote. "Our own laws have reduced our relevance.  Sad."

Cuccinelli urged the GOP dominated General Assembly to change the rules in their upcoming session.

"I hope our new GOP majorities will fix this problem so that neither party confronts it again," he wrote.  "I for one would like Virginia to be heard from in our nomination process, and I'm sure you would too."

Comments

[Baybay Smith]

These are not new requirements they have been in place -- the candidates or their staff should have known about them and acted accordingly. I do not agree that the requirements should be relaxed. Fair is fair -- if they missed the deadline --- they missed it.

[Mike Rowland]

I'm not sure what happened with the Perry campaign, but with Gingrich, it was 1500 invalid signatures collected by one guy. Is that fraud going to be prosecuted?

That being said, I believe that Virginia should revisit their requirements for ballot inclusion. Censoring valid candidates seems to smack of, well...censorship!

[Nellie Austin]

Thank you, Attorney General Cucinnelli,

You are so very right! I hope that the State Board of elections gets that message by the end of their meeting today whatever time it is! We need to be able to vote for whomever we wish so long as they meet their own qualifications to run for the Presidency!

I just don't think we could get any better candidates than those two who are seemingly going to be left off the ballot(s).

But FIRST, WHY IN HEAVEN'S NAME HASN'T SOMEONE CALLED ON THE STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS IN VIRGINIA TO CAST THEIR OWN FIRST STONE!!!??? REMEMBER BACK IN 2008, THEY WERE ORDERED TO FINE-TUNE THEIR VERY OWN ABSENTEE BALLOT SITUATION(S)TO OUR SERVICEMEN OVERSEAS!! HOW HYPOCRITICAL CAN YOU GET?? THEY WERE NOT SENDING OUR SERVICEMEN THEIR BALLOTS IN ORDER FOR THEM TO GET BACK BEFORE THE DEADLINE FOR COUNTING! IRONICALLY, THOSE CONDITIONS ERE NEVER, EVER CORRECTED!!! THE PROBLEM AND EVEN IN 2008 CANDIDATE JOHN MCCAIN SUED THEM FOR THE SAME BASIC REASON!!!--THEY WERE NOT--YET AGAIN, SENDING OUT THE ABSENTEE BALLOTS TO OUR SEERVICEMEN IN TIME TO RECEIVE THEM BACK BEFORE THE DEADLINE FOR BEING COUNTED THAT YEAR!!!

In Christ Jesus,
Nellile Austin
FAX 301-880-0645
Telephone 301-475-7040
22680 Cedar Lane Ct., Apt. 1309
Leonardtown, MD 20650
REGISTERED VERY CONSERVATIVE
REPUBLICAN, DISTRICT 5 (Steny Hoyer country)
Maryland
WE DEFINITELY NEED MANY, MANY ADDED CONSERVATIVE ACTIONS IN OUR GOVERNMENT AND WHITE HOUSE!!!

[T Murray]

Perhaps the candidates should have organized themselves a bit better to meet the requirements. These aren't small print restrictions that have excluded them.

If they were organized and working to meet the requirements, but failed, perhaps they should take it as a sign.