Here’s a curveball I definitely didn’t see coming. The Virginia GOP is suing to have Democrat Terry McAuliffe removed from the ballot.

The Republican Party of Virginia on Thursday asked a court to remove Democrat Terry McAuliffe from the November ballot, arguing that his elections paperwork did not meet the state’s guidelines because it was a missing a signature.

The lawsuit, filed in Richmond Circuit Court, argues that McAuliffe never signed his declaration of candidacy form, a step in the process to qualify for the primary and general election ballot. It also claims that two McAuliffe staffers who signed on as having witnessed McAuliffe signing the document did so falsely.

There’s a copy of the declaration of candidacy form here. It really does appear that he forgot to sign it. It took me a moment to see where he was supposed to sign. That signature line at the bottom is for a notary but McAuliffe didn’t use a notary. Instead, he had two witnesses. I’ve highlighted the spot where he was supposed to sign the form:

A press release about the lawsuit states:

“Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of our democracy, and Terry McAuliffe’s clear violation of the law severely jeopardizes the integrity of our elections in Virginia,” said Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Rich Anderson. “For decades, Terry has used his political connections and proximity to power to avoid consequences for his reckless behavior and disregard for people and laws, but no amount of political favors and back-slapping can refute the fact that McAuliffe is a fraudulent candidate and cannot be Virginia’s next governor.”

The legal complaint is here. This paragraph lays out what the GOP is alleging and what they want a judge to do:

The RPV [Republican Party of VA] seeks declaratory and injunctive relief and a writ of mandamus. Specifically, the RPV asks the Court to ensure the integrity of the democratic process and prevent serious and irreparable injury to the RPV and the fundamental rights of its membership and voters by: (i) declaring that McAuliffe’s missing signature as well as the false and invalid witness signatures on the Declaration fatally infect the Declaration with illegality and therefore make it invalid; (ii) declaring the Virginia State Board of Elections’ acceptance of McAuliffe’s Declaration invalid; (iii) declaring that the Virginia State Board of Elections’ certification and declaration of McAuliffe as the winner of the Democratic primary on June 22, 2021 is contrary to Virginia law, and is therefore invalid; (iv) protecting the RPV and its membership and voters who associate with it from further irreparable harm and requiring Defendants to fulfill their duty of safeguarding the integrity of Virginia elections by (a) ordering Defendants to strike McAuliffe’s Declaration; (b) enjoining Defendants from certifying McAuliffe as the Democratic nominee for Governor on the basis of his missing signature from his Declaration and the false or otherwise invalid signatures of the witnesses; (c) enjoining the Board and their agents, officers, and employees, and any person who acts in concert therewith, from printing McAuliffe’s name on ballots for the November 2021 general election.

I think I get the case they are making here. McAuliffe didn’t properly fill out his paperwork, therefore he shouldn’t have been allowed to win the primary. In Virginia, candidates have until close of business on the 75th day before the primary to file the paperwork. In this case the deadline was March 25, 2021. As you can see above, McAuliffe turned his form in on March 8, well ahead of that deadline.

Certainly if some new candidate were to claim he wanted to belatedly become a candidate for office, no judge would let them essentially backdate their declaration form by five months. But in this case it’s very hard to imagine that the Democratic Party won’t be able to find a judge who will decide the equitable outcome in this case is to allow McAuliffe to add his signature to the declaration rather than removing his name from the ballot after he won the primary.

McAuliffe’s campaign called the lawsuit “desperate” which it may be, but at least so far they haven’t said it was false. McAuliffe’s site doesn’t have a press release about it and he hasn’t tweeted anything from his account so far. My guess is he’s in a very heated meeting with his top staff and attorneys at this moment.