Despite both campaigns' claims to the contrary, the Republican Party of Virginia has officially ruled that neither Rick Perry nor Newt Gingrich has met the requirements to be placed on the ballot in Virginia's Republican presidential primary. Gingrich says he wants to run as a write-in--despite the fact that, well, he can't--and Rick Perry has officially filed suit against the state Republican Party and Board of Elections, claiming that their official requirements for ballot placement are nothing less than unconstitutional.
Interestingly, Bachmann, Santorum, and Huntsman also failed to get on the ballot, but I guess even they can't be bothered to give a shit at this point.
I almost wrote about this topic in support of the Virginia ruling, but to be perfectly honest, I think Rick Perry *shudder* may have a point. While the Perry campaign claims to have submitted 11,911 signatures in all (the minimum is ten thousand), to be valid, signatures have to be collected by someone who is themselves registered to vote in that district, and there have to be at least 400 signatures from each of the State's eleven congressional districts.
What the failure to do so says about the effectiveness of Perry's (or Gingrich's) organization is one thing, and certainly they knew about the rules far ahead of time and should have had no problem following them, but it strikes the wrong tone with me for getting on a ballot to be that difficult - especially it it's just a primary. When only two of the seven major candidates (Romney and Paul) actually managed to qualify for your ballot, it should be clear that something's fucked up.
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