Virginia AG working to allow Gingrich and Perry on the ballot, after all
posted at 5:30 pm on December 31, 2011 by Tina Korbe
When both Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich failed to meet the requirements to appear on the presidential ballot in Virginia, the camps of both candidates claimed a certain degree of victimization. Perry has even filed a lawsuit and an individual activist not associated with Gingrich’s campaign has filed a lawsuit on the former Speaker’s behalf, as well.
Now, it looks like the two candidates are poised to receive help from Virginia’s prominent attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli. Cuccinelli suggests the ballot controversy is at least as much the fault of the Virginia system as of any of the candidates who missed the mark. He plans to file emergency legislation to allow more candidates to make it on the ballot. Fox News reports:
“Recent events have underscored that our system is deficient,” he said in a statement. “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 also 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.”
Virginia’s Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell is expected to support the emergency legislation, as well, according to the Fox News article.
Frankly, I agree with Ed: This was a kind of competence primary — and, no matter what happens with this new legislation, it doesn’t reflect well on either Gingrich or Perry that they didn’t attend more closely to detail. Meanwhile, it does make sense to me that Cuccinelli, McDonnell and other prominent Virginians would want to remedy the problem, even if it wasn’t their fault, as the presence of Gingrich and Perry on the ballot will make for a more meaningful primary for Virginia.
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If y’all heard my howling laughter, y’all would be afraid.
cozmo on May 8, 2013 at 12:50 PM
Organizer bus votes count just as much as intense votes. Good thing gubernatorial elections on VA don’t coincide with presidential elections.
forest on May 8, 2013 at 12:52 PM
As long as the polls are not filled with illegal votes and voters, no democrat should ever be elected again outside of New England and the Pacific coast. The rest of the country is still sane.
Wino on May 8, 2013 at 12:53 PM
Come on, Virginia, man up! Terry will spend all his time raising money for the Democrats.
Cindy Munford on May 8, 2013 at 12:56 PM
Every time you have “NBC/Marist Poll” in a headline, I always misread it as “NBC/Marxist Poll”. I think my version is more accurate.
Agent of the Cross on May 8, 2013 at 12:57 PM
Kenneth Cuccinelli could be a great.
Capitalist Hog on May 8, 2013 at 12:57 PM
LEVIN loves him some Cooch.
But would he be another Jeff Flake?
PappyD61 on May 8, 2013 at 1:00 PM
He he.. I always read it the same way.. Must be the correlation my brain makes between NBC and Marxists.
melle1228 on May 8, 2013 at 1:02 PM
I don’t understand the question, Jeff Flake is in Congress. One thing for sure, he won’t be Terry McAuliffe.
Cindy Munford on May 8, 2013 at 1:06 PM
Yes, McAuliffe can (and does) spew BS like an erupting volcano but he’s just another ‘tax and spend’ Marxist.
Thanks for posting. I thought perhaps I was the only one that red it that way.
PS As a Virginia resident, I don’t recall my household being contacted to contribute to an NBC/’Marxist’ poll. Guess I’ll have to express myself at my polling place.
oldleprechaun on May 8, 2013 at 1:18 PM
Nothing a truckload of missing ballots won’t fix. Add in a legion of illegal aliens, felons, dead and multiple voters… along with a couple of 100% Mccauliffe distiricts and it’s a landslide.
acyl72 on May 8, 2013 at 1:19 PM
…have his people vote more often!
KOOLAID2 on May 8, 2013 at 1:43 PM
Just like the dead heat in last night’s drubbing in SC.
Punchenko on May 8, 2013 at 1:44 PM
Wasn’t Romney winning the intensity gap? I will say this Ken Cuccinelli is a hottie, perhaps he should consider some shirtless campaign stops.
libfreeordie on May 8, 2013 at 2:01 PM
I hope that the Republicans learned a lesson from the election of Al Franken and that they like the Democrats have tens of thousands of ballots waiting to be “found” in closets, car trunks and anywhere else they can think of.
RJL on May 8, 2013 at 2:42 PM
Cooch has a face for the ladies (and a few others), and it is not hurting him. Maybe VA can let him go national in 2016.
leftnomore on May 8, 2013 at 10:27 PM