It looks like the only two on the primary ballot for Virginia will be Romney and Paul. Are you kidding me?
POLITICO – Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has failed to qualify for Virginia’s March 6 Republican primary, a development that complicates his bid to win the GOP presidential nomination.
“After verification, RPV has determined that Newt Gingrich did not submit required 10k signatures and has not qualified for the VA primary,” the Republican Party of Virginia announced early Saturday on its Twitter website.
The Gingrich campaign hit back and promised a write-in campaign:
The Gingrich campaign says Virginia has a “failed system.”
Campaign director Michael Krull issued a statement Saturday saying people deserve to vote for any contender — especially leading candidates.
The campaign says Gingrich will pursue an aggressive write-in campaign to appear on Virginia’s ballot.
Problem is, according to Hotair, write-in ballots are illegal in Virginia for primaries:
At all elections except primary elections it shall be lawful for any voter to vote for any person other than the listed candidates for the office by writing or hand printing the person’s name on the official ballot…
So we’re back to Romney and Paul. This sucks for those in Virginia as well as the candidates who didn’t make it. But the rules are the rules and apparently the Perry and Gingrich campaigns failed to mobilize their people to get enough valid signatures.
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