VA GOP Changed Ballot Access Rules Last Month
by PubliusFrom Richard Winger at BallotAccessNews:
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 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, seven Republicans qualified: John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, and Alan Keyes.
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.
Read more here. Interesting.
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73 Comments
Yupp we're being had AGAIN
Destroy the establishment republicans starting with Fox and Rove. Everyone in Virginia vote for Paul. They will hear our roar!!!
"……..The effect of the lawsuit was to persuade the Republican Party to start checking petitions….."
What a great country this would be if only,…..
Republicans stopped being so F*kin afraid of their own shadow.
Party of Stupid.
The political establishment (Republicans and Democrats), is not interested in the voting rights of the individual.
The establishment is going to make sure that they limit your vote to the candidate of their choice.
Sure, by all means and any means, vote for Romney because he certainly knows how to manipulate the GOB*. (Another trope I'm tired of: Mitt knows how to manage politicians. Hell, Newt knows how to stand up to them.)
*GOB= Good Ol' Boys.
Vote for Newt: the everlastin' GOBstopper!
(If SC isn't going to be asking for voter ID, I'll vote twice for Newt, once in Spanish and once in English.)
Yeah this has Rove rat's hands all over-it. The GOP Establishment is playing from the same ole' screw ya rule book. Notice how the Dem's go unchecked for any and all voter requirements and discrepancies etc: this worked out well for Romney.
Well golly, what do you mean we can't elect our politicians the "old fashion" way?? How CON-venience for Obama lite, how disappointing for the rest of America..
The undated letter can be found here: http://www.rpv.org/sites/default/files/2012%20Pet...
The PDF file contain a hidden Microsoft Word 2010 creation date of 12/21/211.
12/21/2011 (I drank too much eggnog yesterday)
The most amazing thing here is how VAGOP allowed the Obama campaign to infiltrate the primary process in the first place. Obviously, they are afraid of running against Gingrich and Perry.
LMAO…… the Elite Ruling Class RINOs strike again….. They'll get their boy Flip by hook or by crook…
Makes me proud to be voting with them…. (not)
Time for THE TEA to storm the helm, and throw all the ol' blue-haired blue-bloods overboard…
or better yet, we could make them walk the plank… Arrrrggg!!! ; )
Smells like Mitt to me.
If Romney gets the nod from the Republicans, then Obama will stand a better chance to be President for the next cycle.
That is a fact that no one, perhaps not even Romney himself, can deny.
Looks like this will be taken back to court.
Fishy, indeed
Rigged!!!!!!!!!
Once it becomes obvious to all that we no longer have free and open elections, our country will go nut's and take to the streets…… our electoral process what defines us as a country…. with that gone we get anarchy.
Heh. Mitt's trolls are on the thread, down-voting every comment.
Proof positive that Mitt's behind it.
Tweeters want to know the who, what, when, why of this story. Who verified the signatures? Were they Romney or Paul campaign staff? Why were Rick Perry's and Newt Gingrich's signatures thrown out? Was any of it "nitpicking"? Perry entered the race late. Did he get "the memo"? What is the purpose of these stringent rules? Who do they benefit? Do they benefit the voters? Are the VA supporters of candidates not on the ballot being disenfranchised? Is the election board throwing out the baby with the bath water? Will anyone investigate this story and find these answers – and let us all know?
Doesn't matter what you see, or into it what you read, you can have it your own way, if it's done just how I say.
Independence limited, freedom of choice is made for you my friend, freedom of speech is words that they will bend.
Freedom with their exceptions.
Eh…. 'ees too much. Lemme sum up:
The GOP is desperate.
As Gerard Van der Leun often states: They thirst for death.
I think its time for conservatives to unite and leave the GOP and declare as independents. They are always so damn worried about those" precious independents" it would be a nicer if they worried about us conservatives too. Let them work to keep our voters instead of taking us for granted that we hold our nose and pull the lever for another RINO.
I thought it was kind of unusual…
Anything to win. In Alinsky’s brand of social warfare, the end justifies any means. Winning at any cost is all that matters. The libs are mounting total warfare to take the country over. Obama was and is a disciple of Alinsky who was put in office to do just that. I pray he will not be successful.
The establishment RINO's have to get milquetoast Romney nominated so that The Immaculated One can win another term.
Let me get this straight. Actually checking to make sure the names on the ballots are legit is now evil, just because two morons Newt and perry couldn't follow the rules?
You cry babies sure sound like ACORN Thugs™ lately.
Newt screwed up, deal with it.
I just don't see why the "failed to qualify" candidates couldn't just submit a couple of thousand extra signatures to make sure that they had enough, especially given all the many months they have had to get them. Sounds like incredibly poor campaign organizations to me if even whacked out Ron Paul got on the ballot. But then, no one has ever complained that all of his "blame America first' supporters weren't fanatics, have they? They always turn out. And that organized sort of ground support is what all of the missing ones are lacking. How could they possibly hope to beat Obama if they can't even do something as trivial as getting ten thousand valid signatures out of a state the size of Virginia?
Smells like Mittens the RINO phony is trying to do what McShame and Huckabee did to him in the West Virginia caucus in 2008.
I guess you didn't read the article genius. The rules were changed and of coarse the two candidates who have been running for President forever caught on or maybe warned of the change.
DON'T fall for the BS from OBOTS like this.
1 VOTE for RON PAUL = 2 VOTES FOR OBAMA.
SNAP, AMERICA.
…yes, the New World Order's beotch.
Well said.
Semper Fi
The fix was in. No wonder Palin decided not to run. With crap like this.
Have you also noticed, that of the 3 articles posted about the Virginia Republican Primary on this blog since Friday, that none of the comments have shown support for Mitt Romney? Certainly, many of the comments were in response to the filing issue and not about any particular candidate. But, of those who expressed an opinion, none appear to openly support Romney. I do find that curious, since we are told that he has majority support across all voter categories. One would think that his support would be visible everywhere, including this blog. Could it be his support is so soft, that folks are hesitant to speak openly for him, even in non-friendly territory such as this? If this is the case, it does not bode well for the prospects of dislodging our current Progressive-in-Chief should Romney achieve the Republican nomination.
I suspect it's the wrong people you are blaming–sounds more like the Paulettes' tactics. Still you may be right.
Uh . . . well . . .that would be because, unlike the eternal candidate Mitt Romney, Perry and Gingrich have only been in the race for a short while. They lack the campaign apparatus necessary. MItt has the RNC running interference for him and Paul, well he has his Paulbots.
If only the Romney and Paul campaign had the foresight to collect and check that the petitions were valid what does that say for the rest of the field? If you can't even manage a campaign and get on the ballot how do you convince the county that you can be president and manage the executive branch of government?
It's called organization and support from a competently leader managing a campaign. It's the first test that shows the voters who is competent enough to manage the executive branch. The field has now been narrowed down to Romney and Paul as the others cannot even run a campaign more less the presidency.
I don't think Romney, Rove, Bush, and the other beltway elitist have even heard of the Bigs. In their mind we are just rebel rousing cannon fodder they will deal with later.
Talk about a black eye for the Virgina GOP. For a group that complains so much about ACORN and potential voter fraud, to not have your own house in order….. foolishness. If I were the Republican National Comittee I'd make an example out of them. Invlidate the primary results, and decline to seat any Virginia delegates at the convention.
RINO scum acting like Democraps. Such a surprise, NOT. The Stupid Party is the reason America's going down the tubes. RINO scum enable their allies the Democraps at every turn. This traitorous flith needs to be purged from the GOP if this country is ever going to return to liberty and the Constitution. This time around, the Tea Party should focus on getting right-thinkers into the House and Senate. It will be another four/eight years before we are prepared to ensure an honest primary contest.
Conspiracy fantasies don't belong on a site for grown-ups.
Um… what? Seriously?
Come on now. The only ones who do that are Lefties and PaulBots.
just because the government admits it does not mean it is true….
…nor naive ostriches.
Breitbart should rename this site, SmallRationalBenevolentConstitutional Government?
U.N.'s Agenda 21
15 minutes
The establishment Rigging the elections, just like in Russia and the rest of the world!!!!
Agreed, but how does your post garner a +25 and my "Agenda 21" get a -4?
I honestly don't know which candidate would be worse for America; Paul, or Obama.
Ding! We have a winner!
Vote for Paul…..there are too many Jews in the world!
So you're complaining because the signatures need to be valid? Seriously? That's all you got?
One state does not a presidential candidate make. What this should do is be a wake-up call to Perry and Gingrich that their organizations are failing them. I mean, come on, Santorum and Bachmann qualify?? They do not have near the support that Perry or Gingrich do. This means that these 2 candidates have done themselves a disservice by having poor organizations.
THEY WILL NOT BE CHECKING RECALL PETITIONS IN WISCONSIN THAT WAY!
Romney and Paul. LOL
will never vote for either of them. Something stinks to high heaven in VA. I suspect thing will change in the days to come..
What a load of Bull. The Republican party suicided in 2008 by nominating a RINO. Now the RINO Republican establishment is doing everything they can to repeat the disaster. If the Republicans do not want to allow Conservative candidates to run than the Conservatives should form a Conservative party. There is no sense in us continuing to support Democrat-lite RINOs.
It is time for conservatives to take over the whole freakin party, not run away with your toys.
I agree. Newt stepped on many toes when he was Speaker, and a great many of those toes belonged to Establishment Republicans. They're still out for payback. Best reccommendation I've seen yet.
Starting a third party is unacceptable. That will guarantee an Obama win.
Reread the article. The RULES WERE CHANGED. In prior primaries, whatever sigs were turned in were accepted. In the menatime, there's been a lawsuit, and the GOP changed their rules and started verifying the sigs only this year. Apparently, the didn't bother to tell anyone, either.
Yeah, and all we want to do is make enemies and then go to war. oooooEEEEEEEooooooo!
I guess the establishment GOP can do the voter fraud thing as well as the rest of them.
The deadline was Thursday at 5:00 pm. The next day they are invalidated? BS. This is an inside job. How many casts of thousands would have to be working on December 23 to count the 11,000 + votes for Perry and Newt. Definitely the scandal of the campaign. I hope Perry and Newt sue the Republican Party in VA for we certainly know they are in the bag for Romney along with the RNC, also located in Virginia.
And I ask you to consider this: With the viciousness against Republicans why has the media not attacked Paul's ideas? Paul is the Democrat plant – like Rush had folks switch to Democrat party in primary to keep Hilary around.
What good is a stash if you don't use it during the re-election campaign-pay back time.
I am FURIOUS over this!
I will be writing in "Sarah Palin".
Go ahead and thumb me down all you kool-aid drinking Paultards!
Ron Paul is to Foreign Policy the same level of genius htat ObaMao has proven to be in Economics & Business.
If The Paulbots win, America is just as doomed as it is today.
I am OUTRAGED over this crap.
'Nuff said
wait…the repub party changed rules…hows that work….the State of Virginia holds the authority…why does it cede its power to a polical party to start with?
the state should be responsible for checking validity of signatures…not a political party…end of story
Will someone actually report the reason their petitions were rejected? Was it because there were invalid signatures or was it that the there were not 400 from each district? Would be nice if some reporter would report more than just the sensational stuff and give us details.
Never said voting third party candidate. I said leave GOP and declare independent voter. Keep GOP guess and trying to please conservatives instead of moderates.
No, you won't be writing in Palin. Your state's primary doesn't have a write-in provision. Conveeeenient.
I think thats what we did in 2010 and apparently its not working.
Then cast a STRIKE vote………
vote Libertarian in the primary. At least we will know how 'strong' the TP is or isn't in the grand scheme of things. If they turn out in large enough numbers and cast votes for NONE OF THE ABOVE the GOP might just wake up. If not, it won't make any difference anyway.
But at least dems and obama will OWN the next four years as all the houses of cards come down around their ears and their own entitlement zombies turn on them.
Much as we'd like it to be a draconian democrat plot to subvert the elections, VA redistricted and many signatures gotten months ago did not apply to the "400 minimum signatures from each district" rule due to new boundaries.
Of course this change plus waiting till it was too late to fix anything to certify candidates was pure politics. However, the only folks who will suffer are VA republicans robbed of the choice to vote for their candidate if that candidate was disqualified.
I suspect voters in VA will know what to do about that when these clowns come up for re-election. If not, oh well, sux to be a republican in VA.
Mitt or Newt will guarantee the same thing, mama.
When are we going to stop being too scared to vote our conscience? I'm 66 now and not one election in my life has NOT been a "do or die"…..hold your nose….he's horrible but the alternative is worse, situation.
I'm done playing the brinksmanship game. If the GOP is so stupid they didn't learn in 2008 or 2010, then they deserve to lose and I have NO intention of coming to their rescue.
I'm not staying home and I'm not toeing the party line. I've voting for MY choice.
Painless up top has the best idea yet on this situation.
We should just FLOOD GOP headquarters demanding they invalidate this primary and refuse to seat one single delegate from VA at the convention. Brilliant strategy.
And letting the GOP know in no uncertain terms we won't tolerate this kind of game is just icing on the cake. Might wake up more than a few other GOP state committees.
No they won't. People are ticked off enough to hold their noses and vote for ANYONE who isn't Obama. ONLY a third party splitting the GOP vote could cause a real problem.
Don't go by polling data… this time in 2008, they had HILLARY winning the election. Never forget that.
You're right.. Besides, Reagan was no Reagan in the early years. He "grew" into it.
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