Virginia primary: Was it so hard for Perry and Gingrich to get on the ballot?

However, most political analysts agree that all candidates face the toughest hurdles in Virginia, due to unusually difficult primary rules for candidates of both parties. To avert armies of volunteer petitioners invading the state, Virginia requires that all those gathering signatures be state residents. Additionally, at least 400 signatures must come from each of the state’s 11 congressional districts.

Tucker Martin, a spokesman for Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell, said that despite the rigorous requirements, prior candidates for president, governor, and senator from both parties successfully filed their petitions.

“The system has been in place for a long time and the ballot requirements are well known,” Mr. Martin told the Richmond Times-Dispatch Monday.

Even if the outcry against the rules gains traction, it is unlikely that the state legislature, which convenes Jan. 11, will force a change this late in the game. The reason: Eight candidates are currently vying for the seat of retiring state Sen. Jim Webb, a Democrat. The assumption is that the June 12 primary date will be a race between frontrunners Timothy Kaine, a Democrat, and George Allen, a Republican and that their allies in the statehouse will not want their chances to win slimmed by broadening the race to include outside candidates.

Only former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and US Rep. Ron Paul qualified to get on the Virginia ballot. Mr. Romney’s campaign submitted over 16,000 signatures while Representative Paul’s campaign submitted over 14,000.

By contrast, the campaigns for Gingrich and Perry submitted about 11,000 signatures each by Thursday’s deadline, but in the subsequent vetting by Republican officials, too many of them were thrown out.

The campaigns for US Rep. Michele Bachmann, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman each failed to submit signatures, automatically disqualifying them from getting on the March ballot.

Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that he predicts Romney will win the majority of the state’s 49 delegates to the Republican National Convention. The Gingrich and Perry ballot mishap “has made the Virginia primary completely irrelevant,” Mr. Sabato said. 

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