Effort made to get more GOP hopefuls on Virginia ballot

RICHMOND

Two former state political party chairmen are asking for emergency legislation to get more Republican presidential candidates on Virginia's March 6 primary ballot.

Standing outside the State Capitol, Paul Goldman, the onetime state Democratic Party chairman, and ex-Republican Party chairman Patrick McSweeney called Virginia's ballot-qualification rules onerous and flawed. They urged lawmakers to change them immediately when they convene Jan. 11 so voters can choose from an array of Republican candidates on Super Tuesday.

Their appeal came the same day that state election officials approved the Virginia GOP's request for a closed primary - meaning that would-be voters must promise to vote for the eventual Republican presidential nominee in the November election before they'll be given a primary ballot.

Virginia's ballot-access requirements for candidates have come under scrutiny after state GOP officials recently determined former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry failed to submit petitions bearing 10,000 valid voter signatures, disqualifying them from the primary ballot.

Of the four Republicans who filed Virginia petitions, only former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas made the ballot.

Even as some blame Virginia's ballot requirements, CNN reported Wednesday that Gingrich told an Iowa voter that his Virginia petition-gathering effort was undermined by a worker who submitted 1,500 false signatures.

Perry has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the validity of Virginia's primary-qualification statute and on Wednesday asked a court to order that his name appear on the ballot. A federal judge in Richmond on today declined Perry's request for an emergency order. It will hear his arguments Jan. 13, after the Jan. 9 ballot deadline.

Some election watchers consider Virginia's ballot standards among the most stringent in the nation: State law requires candidates to submit petitions with 10,000 qualified-voter signatures, including 400 from each of the state's 11 congressional districts. A proposal to reduce the overall number to 5,000 signatures failed earlier this year.

"On presidential primary ballot access, there's just no question Virginia has the most strict law," said Richard Winger, editor of Ballot Access News, a publication that tracks election-law changes affecting political parties and candidates.

Winger said Indiana, Pennsylvania and Illinois are other states that have challenging qualification rules, though in his view, none is tougher than Virginia.

After a presidential contender submits Virginia petitions, they are reviewed by the state political party of that candidate to see whether they satisfy legal requirements.

Goldman argues that system is unfair because the state allows political parties, which he said use different counting methods, to evaluate the petitions.

The process should be about giving Virginians "the right to choose the candidate of their choice" rather than disputes over arcane rules, said Goldman, a Richmond lawyer working with Citizens for the Republic, a conservative group fighting for Gingrich's inclusion on the ballot.

Virginia Republicans decided that candidates who filed at least 15,000 voter signatures on valid petitions, with at least 600 coming from each congressional district, would be ruled to have qualified.

That isn't far off from guidance offered in the spring by the State Board of Elections, which recommended that candidates collect 15,000-20,000 signatures with at least 700 from each congressional district.

That threshold was chosen because the party had only five days to review the petitions and past experience showed that no candidate with that many signatures had failed to qualify, the party said in a statement Wednesday. Candidates were told of the rule in October, the party said, and none complained - until the ruling that some candidates failed to qualify.

Only Romney exceeded the 15,000 signature threshold set by the state GOP. Paul submitted fewer than 15,000 signatures, but party officials said his petitions stood up under a line-by-line review.

The push to change the rules in time to get more Republican presidential hopefuls on the ballot appears to be a long-shot politically and logistically.

State election officials are moving forward with election preparations ahead of March 6, readying voting equipment and absentee ballots so they can be mailed to voters far in advance of election day.

In fact, the State Board of Elections took a few more steps in that direction Wednesday when the panel determined ballot order for Super Tuesday - Paul will appear atop the ballot, Romney second.

The board also approved the Virginia Republican Party's plan to present primary voters with a pledge affirming they will support the eventual GOP nominee as a condition of voting in the presidential nominating contest.

Virginia voters don't register by party affiliation, but state law allows political parties to use a loyalty oath in presidential primaries.

Julian Walker, (804) 697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com