While the candidates are fighting in court to get on the ballot, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is stepping in to see if he can get something accomplished on the legislative side so that all candidates who are at worst eligible to receive federal matching funds are included if requested:
FOX NEWS – Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is intervening in his state’s presidential primary dispute and plans to file emergency legislation to address the inability of most Republican presidential candidates to get their name on the ballot, Fox News has learned. …
The failure of other candidates to qualify led to complaints that the 10,000-signature requirement is too stringent.
Cuccinelli, who is a Republican, shared the concerns and plans to take them to the legislature while the candidates work through the courts.
“Recent events have underscored that our system is deficient,” he said in a statement Saturday. “Virginia owes her citizens a better process. We can do it in time for the March primary if we resolve to do so quickly.”
Cuccinelli’s proposal is expected to state that if the Virginia Board of Elections certifies that a candidate is receiving federal matching funds, or has qualified to receive them, that candidate will upon request be automatically added to the ballot.
Two former Democratic attorneys general are backing the move, along with a former Democratic state party chairman and a former Republican state party chairman.
Former state Attorney General Tony Troy called the Virginia process a “legal and constitutional embarrassment.” Fellow former top Virginia prosecutor Steve Rosenthal said: “This is not a Democratic or Republican issue. If it takes emergency legislation, then we need to do it.”
A spokesman for Virginia Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell appeared to defend the state’s strict ballot rules, but opened the door to reexamining them.
I think it’s great that people on both sides of the aisle are backing Cuccinelli’s proposal and I hope it means, for the sake of the citizens of Virginia, that they get it reformed in time to get all GOP candidates on the ballot.
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