Perry files suit challenging Virginia ballot access

From staff and wire reports

Texas Gov. Rick Perry filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday challenging the validity of a Virginia statute that keeps his name from appearing on the primary ballot.

Republican presidential candidates Perry and Newt Gingrich failed to qualify for Virginia's Super Tuesday primary ballot. The Republican Party of Virginia said early Saturday that Gingrich and Perry had failed to submit the required 10,000 signatures to be included on the March 6 ballot.

Virginia GOP spokesman Garren Shipley said in a statement that volunteers spent Friday validating signatures on petitions submitted by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, Perry and Gingrich.

Three other candidates – Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman – did not submit signatures before Virginia's deadline of 5 p.m. Thursday.

In a news release, Perry's campaign called Virginia's ballot access rules "the most onerous" and said they unconstitutionally restrict the rights of candidates and voters by severely restricting access to the ballot.

"We hope to have those provisions overturned or modified to provide greater ballot access to Virginia voters and the candidates seeking to earn their support," the release said.

In the suit, filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, Perry said the defendants – members of the state elections board and the chairman of the Virginia Republican Party – violated his freedoms of speech and association protected by the First and 14th Amendments.

Perry's campaign also is asking the state Republican Party to have him listed on the primary ballot, the news release said.

Gingrich's campaign also has blasted the state rules as part of "a failed system."

"Voters deserve the right to vote for any top contender, especially leading candidates," Gingrich campaign manager Michael Krull said in a statement released to McClatchy/Tribune News Service.

Gingrich's campaign had said the former House speaker would pursue an aggressive write-in campaign, though state law prohibits write-ins on primary ballots.

In a Facebook message posted Saturday, however, Krull did not mention a write-in campaign. "By now you've likely heard that our effort to gain access to the primary ballot in Virginia was not successful," he said on Facebook.

"We are exploring alternate methods to compete in Virginia – stay tuned."

On Monday, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli was suggesting the legislature ease the requirements for access. Virginia's process "screams out for making our ballot more accessible," he said in The Cuccinelli Compass, his online newsletter.

But the process to change the law in time to mail the primary ballots on Jan. 21 is complicated.

The General Assembly meets Jan. 11, and lawmakers would have to pass emergency legislation to have it go into effect immediately with the governor's signature, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.

Emergency legislation requires a supermajority, the newspaper said. Eighty of the 100 members of the House of Delegates and 32 of the 40 state senators would have to vote to change the law.

The legislation also would be subject to approval by the governor. Through his spokesman, Gov. Bob McDonnell has made his view clear – that the rules for getting on the ballot were well-known, the Times-Dispatch reported.

Paul Goldman, a Richmond lawyer and former Virginia Democratic Party chairman, is helping represent Citizens for the Republic, a conservative group, in challenging Gingrich's disqualification, Politico reported.

This story was compiled from reports by Pilot writer Lauren King and The Associated Press.