Virginia: Judge allows GOP presidential hopefuls to join Perry’s ballot suit | The Washington Post

A federal judge in Richmond agreed Wednesday to let three Republican presidential candidates join the lawsuit Texas Gov. Rick Perry brought after failing to qualify for Virginia’s GOP primary ballot. U.S. District Judge John A. Gibney Jr. granted a motion to intervene brought by former senator Rick Santorum (Pa.), former House speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) and former Utah governor Jon Huntsman. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), who also had sought to join the suit, was not included in the order. She dropped out of the race Wednesday after a last-place finish in the Iowa caucuses.

The ruling means the case against Virginia’s GOP chairman and members of the State Board of Elections would go forward even if Perry, who had a poor showing in Iowa, dropped out of the race, said Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law. “They would keep it alive,” he said. “Once they’re parties, they step into the shoes of the plaintiff.”

Virginia: State to print, mail ballots despite Perry suit | Reuters

Texas Governor Perry sued Virginia election officials after state Republican officials ruled he did not get the required number of verified voter signatures, arguing the state’s qualification process limits voters’ access to the candidates of their choosing. U.S. District Judge John Gibney set a January 13 hearing on the matter.

To comply with laws that protect overseas absentee voters, the state must send ballots to them at least 45 days before the March 6 primary contest, meaning they will have to be mailed by January 21. It takes about two weeks to prepare and mail ballots, a state official said.

Former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich also failed to get the 10,000 verifiable signatures, including at least 400 qualified voters from each congressional district, that are necessary to be included in Virginia’s primary.

Virginia: Attorney General changes mind, won’t intervene in primary ballot case | The Washington Post

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) announced Sunday that he has reconsidered his decision from Saturday and will not seek to get several GOP presidential candidates added to the state’s primary ballot. Every candidate except Mitt Romney and Ron Paul failed to meet the stringent requirements to get on the ballot for the state’s March 6 primary, and Cuccinelli said Saturday that he would seek to get them added to the ballot.

But in a statement Sunday, he reversed course and said he would seek a change in the requirements for future elections only. In the end, Cuccinelli said trying to make immediate changes wouldn’t be fair to the Romney and Paul campaigns.

Virginia: Four GOP candidates join Perry’s lawsuit challenging Virginia ballot access | The Hill

Four additional GOP presidential candidates joined Rick Perry’s federal court challenge to Virginia’s ballot-access rules this weekend, in a show of force by five rivals for the Republican nomination who otherwise will not appear on the state’s primary ballot. Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Jon Huntsman, and Perry all failed to qualify for Virginia’s primary ballot because their campaigns did not collect enough signatures.

Texas Gov. Perry first filed a federal court challenge to Virginia’s ballot-access rules on Tuesday. Attorneys representing the additional candidates sent a letter to the chairman of Virginia’s Republican party on Saturday. The letter asks that the candidates’ names be added to the ballot, an action that would moot their constitutional challenge to the current law. The state requires candidates to obtain 10,000 signatures from registered voters in the state, including at least 400 from each of 11 congressional districts.

Virginia: Republican candidates may get another shot at Virginia ballot for Super Tuesday | The Washington Post

 

The slate of Republican presidential hopefuls who did not qualify for the Virginia primary might get another shot. Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II plans to file emergency legislation to re-open the process to GOP candidates. Virginia’s process has come under fire since it was announced last week that only former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) had qualified for the ballot.“Recent events have underscored that our system is deficient,” Cuccinelli (R) 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.”

 

Neither Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Rep. Michelle Bachmann, former senator Rick Santorum nor former House speaker Newt Gingrich submitted the 10,000 signatures required to get a spot on the state’s ballot in time for Super Tuesday. According to news reports, Cuccinelli’s plan would allow candidates who qualify for federal matching funds to go onto the state’s ballot. Perry’s campaign filed a lawsuitmaintaining that he was unable to submit the required signatures because of the state’s “requirement that all petition circulators be an eligible or registered qualified voter in Virginia.”

Virginia: Rick Perry to ‘Activist Judges’: Save Me | Garrett Epps/The Atlantic

Rick Perry appears to be riding into the sunset, but he is not leaving the stage without exercising a true politician’s prerogative of cheerfully sacrificing any principle, no matter how strongly stated, when it becomes inconvenient.

If there’s one thing we know about Perry — one dry-gulch bedrock to his cowboy constitutional philosophy — it’s that he just hates them activist judges and all the perverted things they have done to the Fourteenth Amendment. “[T]he Fourteenth Amendment is abused by the Court to carry out whatever policy choices it wants to make in the form of judicial activism,” he lamented in his book, Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America from Washington. In particular, courts “should be particularly protective of our founding structure — a unique structure of dual sovereigns that placed power as close to the people as was practical so that the people could govern themselves.”

Surely that would mean that the people of Virginia should have a right to determine what level of support a candidate needs to be a serious presidential candidate, deserving of a place on its primary ballot? Or should that decision be made by “unelected judges”? Well, actually, unelected judges are suddenly looking right good to Gov. Perry. Perry last week failed to qualify for the Virginia Republican Primary ballot, both a humiliating blow to his dignity and a concrete setback to his hope of remaining in the presidential race after his expected low showing in Iowa.

Virginia: Effort made to get more GOP hopefuls on ballot | HamptonRoads.com

Two former state political party chairmen are asking for emergency legislation to get more Republican presidential candidates on Virginia’s March 6 primary ballot.

Standing outside the State Capitol, Paul Goldman, the onetime state Democratic Party chairman, and ex-Republican Party chairman Patrick McSweeney called Virginia’s ballot-qualification rules onerous and flawed. They urged lawmakers to change them immediately when they convene Jan. 11 so voters can choose from an array of Republican candidates on Super Tuesday.

Their appeal came the same day that state election officials approved the Virginia GOP’s request for a closed primary – meaning that would-be voters must promise to vote for the eventual Republican presidential nominee in the November election before they’ll be given a primary ballot.

Virginia: State unlikely to change law to allow Gingrich write-in | Richmond Times-Dispatch

Newt Gingrich wants Virginia legislators to change the law in time for him to mount a write-in campaign in Virginia’s March 6 presidential primary. But that appears virtually impossible, for practical as well as political reasons.

NBC 4, the network’s Washington affiliate, caught up with Gingrich on Christmas Day at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, the nation’s largest Roman Catholic Church. Gingrich’s wife, Callista, was singing in the choir.

“We’re disappointed, but it was our fault,” Gingrich, a McLean resident, said of his campaign’s failure to qualify for Virginia’s primary ballot. “And we hope to launch a write-in campaign. We’re getting an amazing number of people who … believe Virginians ought to have the right to choose and shouldn’t be restricted to two people.” When a reporter noted that state law prohibits write-in votes in Virginia primaries, Gingrich said: “There’s time for them to change it. If something’s wrong, they ought to fix it.”

Virginia: Rick Perry files federal lawsuit challenging Virginia ballot-access law | dallasnews.com

Rick Perry , a vocal advocate of states rights, has gone to federal court in a bid to overturn the Virginia state law governing access of its ballot. Perry failed to meet the requirements of the state law by submitting enough signatures for the GOP primary in Virginia. The Perry campaign announced it has filed suit challenging the constitutional validity of the Virginia statute that regulates access to the ballot by presidential candidates. Perry’s lawyers say it might be state law, but it limits the rights of voters to vote for the candidate of their choice — i.e. Rick Perry. The Texas governor won’t be on the Virginia primary ballot due to the Perry camp’s failure to get enough signatures.

Perry’s campaign appeared to recognize the problem of touting states rights on one hand while asking the federal government to overrule a states’ law on the other. In a statement, campaign manager Ray Sullivan said: “Gov. Perry greatly respects the citizens and history of the Commonwealth of Virginia and believes Virginia Republicans should have greater access to vote for one of the several candidates for President of the United States. “Virginia ballot access rules are among the most onerous and are particularly problematic in a multi-candidate election. We believe that the Virginia provisions unconstitutionally restrict the rights of candidates and voters by severely restricting access to the ballot, and we hope to have those provisions overturned or modified to provide greater ballot access to Virginia voters and the candidates seeking to earn their support.”

Virginia: Gingrich faces long odds to compete in Virginia presidential primary | The Washington Post

In the wake of the Virginia Republican Party’s announcement Saturday morning that Newt Gingrich had not secured the required 10,000 valid signatures to run in the state’s March 6 presidential primary, a campaign spokesman declared that Gingrich is “exploring alternative methods to compete in Virginia — stay tuned.”

On Gingrich’s Facebook page, campaign director Michael Krull noted that he had spoken on Saturday morning about the Virginia setback with Gingrich, who “stated this is not catastrophic,” Krull said. But being left off the ballot in his adopted state on Super Tuesday, when Republican contests in nine other states will be fought in addition to Virginia’s, would be both a potent political and symbolic blow to the candidate who was enjoying a lead over GOP rivals in the Dominion State, according to the Quinnipiac Poll.

With analysts and some party insiders having raised doubts about the depth and skill of Gingrich’s organization, the latest news out of Virginia is certain to exacerbate concerns about the candidate’s long-term viability. Krull was quick to remind skeptics that doom had been forecast for the campaign before, in the wake of a Gingrich staff shake-up. “Remember that it was only a few months ago that pundits and the press declared us dead after the paid consultants left . . . ,” he said. “Some again will state that this is fatal.”

Virginia: Bachmann, Huntsman, Santorum not on Virginia primary ballot | Richmond Times-Dispatch

Four Republican presidential candidates – Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry and Ron Paul — submitted paper work in time to qualify for Virginia’s March 6 primary ballot.

No other GOP contender will be on the Virginia ballot. Rep. Michele Bachmann, former Sen. Rick Santorum and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman did not submit signatures with Virginia’s State Board of Elections by today’s 5 p.m. deadline. Those who submitted the required signatures must clear another hurdle. The Republican Party of Virginia has until Tuesday to certify which candidates qualify.

Virginia: Gingrich, Perry disqualified from primary ballot | The Washington Post

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry failed to submit enough valid signatures to qualify for the Virginia primary ballot, state GOP officials said Friday evening and early Saturday. The Republican Party of Virginia announced early Saturday that Gingrich and Perry failed to submit 10,000 signatures of registered voters required to get their names on the ballot for the March 6 primary.

“After verification, RPV has determined that Newt Gingrich did not submit required 10k signatures and has not qualified for the VA primary,” the party announced on Twitter.

The rejection is a significant setback for the Gingrich campaign since he is leading the polls in Virginia among likely Republican voters and is seen as a strong contender for the nomination.

Virginia: Perry fails to qualify for Virginia’s presidential primary | Richmond Times-Dispatch

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has failed to qualify for Virginia’s March 6 Republican presidential primary, according to the Republican Party of Virginia. Volunteers at state GOP headquarters are continuing to assess whether former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has amassed the required 10,000 signatures of registered voters.

Earlier today the state GOP certified that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Rep. Ron Paul will be on the ballot for the state’s Republican primary.

Editorials: Render gerrymandering obsolete | Rob Richie/HamptonRoads.com

Virginia has become one of the few true swing states in presidential elections and, in recent years, has experienced divided partisan control of its state legislature. You’d think that this would have prompted hotly contested state legislative races on Election Day, but in fact only 52 of 140 races had candidates from both major parties – including just 27 percent of elections for the House of Delegates. Another round of largely uncontested races is just the latest evidence of the failure of winner-take-all, single-member district elections.

Winner-take-all inherently represents voters poorly and tempts partisans to gerrymander outcomes. Although we need other changes like independent redistricting, it’s time to look for a better way grounded in our electoral traditions: fair voting, which is an American form of proportional representation in elections taking place in larger “superdistricts.”

Virginia: GOP retakes Senate, recount looms | LoudounTimes.com

Republicans appeared to have taken control of the Virginia Senate on Tuesday, but their razor thin majority rests on 86 votes and may not be settled until a lengthy recount is concluded. It’s process that could extend a bitter campaign season into December.

The Republicans managed to take back control of the Senate by edging out senior Democrats in two central Virginia districts. Control of the Senate rests in District 17 where Spotsylvania Sen. Edd Houck, the third ranking Democrat in the Senate, lost to political newcomer Bryce Reeves by less than 86 votes of the 45,000 cast, as of early Wednesday morning.

Virginia: GOP Senate takeover hangs on 86 votes | The Washington Post

Virginia Democrats’ hopes of maintaining their party’s hold on the Commonwealth’s upper house were very much in doubt late Tuesday, hinging on a razor-thin count in a single Senate district. When the ballot-counting ended for the night, longtime Spotsylvania incumbent Sen. R. Edward Houck (D) was 86 votes behind Republican challenger Bryce E. Reeves. Absentee ballots have been counted, and an unknown number of provisional ballots will be counted Wednesday.

Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) early Wednesday morning declared victory on behalf of Reeves in the 17th district, which encompasses Fredericksburg and parts of five downstate counties. Craig Bieber, Houck’s campaign manager, said the race “remains too close to call” and noted “several significant discrepancies during Tuesday night’s tabulation that deserve further attention during the canvassing and certification process.”

Virginia: How A Recount Works in Virginia Politics | fredericksburg.patch.com

With only 226 votes between unofficial winner Bryce Reeves and incumbent senator Edd Houck, a recount is almost guaranteed. But how does it work? If Edd Houck is going to request a recount of the unofficial 226-vote loss to Republican Bryce Reeves, he must do so within 10 days from the day the State Board of Elections certifies the results of the 17th District Senate race. Power in the state senate hinges on this race. If Reeves wins, there would be a 20-20 tie in the Senate, and Lt. Gov. Bill Boiling, a Republican, would cast the tie-breaking votes. If Houck wins, Democrats retain a majority.

Typically, the results are certified the day following Election Day. Any candidate can request a recount if he or she loses by 1-percent or less of the total votes. Unofficial stats show Houck lost to Reeves by a slim margin. The latest results, posted shortly after 3 p.m., from the Virginia State Board of Elections shows Reeves with a lead over Houck of 22,608 to 22,382. The 226 vote margin is still less than 1-percent of the total votes cast in the race.

Virginia: Fairfax County braces for election confusion after voter database glitches | The Washington Post

Fairfax County elections officials are bracing for confusion at the polls on Election Day, in part because glitches in Virginia’s voter database could lead some voters to the wrong polling place. County officials said Monday that they discovered about 2,200 cases in which a state-run computer program assigned voters to incorrect precincts.

Voters were sent new voter ID cards as soon as the errors were discovered, for the most part in September. But at least one error was discovered as recently as last week. New cards were sent by two-day or overnight mail in some cases to make sure they arrived in time.

Virginia: Ballots won’t need legible signatures, after all | HamptonRoads.com

Fret not, absentee voters with sloppy signatures. You no longer need to worry that handwriting style could cost you your voice in a future election. The state’s top election official said Wednesday his agency will recommend changes to proposed mail-in ballot rules to make clear that an illegible signature isn’t a valid reason to disqualify a ballot.

Regulations adopted last year by the Democrat-appointed State Board of Elections had featured protections for illegible signatures as well as a catch-all provision that allowed improperly filled-out ballots to be counted if a voter’s identity could be confirmed by election officials. Earlier this year, after turnover on the Board of Elections gave control to Republican appointees, state officials withdrew those regulations and moved to replace them with what Democrats consider less flexible ballot rules.

After an article about the changes appeared in The Virginian-Pilot last week, about 500 people posted comments about them on a state website.

Virginia: Earthquake Disrupts, But Doesn’t Derail, Primary Election | Sun Gazette Newspapers

County election officials rocked and rolled with the punches, even as the Aug. 23 earthquake briefly threw a wrench into operations at precincts across Arlington. But the show went on: Polls closed on time at 7 p.m., and the first results were in four minutes later.

“Everybody handled it beautifully,” Registrar Linda Lindberg said of staff at the 51 precincts, who like the rest of the local area were jolted by the 5.8-magnitude quake just before 2 p.m. on the day of the commonwealth’s primary election.

Virginia: Fairfax election officials recounting close vote in Braddock supervisor primary | The Washington Post

The Fairfax County primary to pick a Democratic challenger for the Board of Supervisors’ seat in the Braddock District turned into a nail-biter on Tuesday. There was such a narrow margin of victory that election officials will recount the vote Wednesday morning before declaring a victory, according to candidates and election officials.

After polls closed Tuesday night, Janet S. Oleszek, a former school board member, held a 42-vote lead over first-time candidate Christopher J. Wade. Oleszek once lost a legislative battle to then-Sen. Ken Cuccinelli by a razor’s edge.

Virginia: Judge stays ruling in Norfolk voter registration case | HamptonRoads.com

A federal judge issued a stay to an earlier ruling that would have made voter registration records available to the public. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith ordered the stay after the Virginia attorney general’s office filed an appeal. Smith ruled two weeks ago in favor of the voting rights group Project Vote, ordering Virginia to open its voter registration records for public inspection. At that time, Smith placed some restrictions on the open records, saying only applications from July 20 onward would be made available, and Social Security numbers must be redacted.

Project Vote had sued the Norfolk and state voter registrars after a number of Norfolk State University students had their voter registrations rejected during the last presidential election. The Norfolk registrar denied the group access to the records, citing Virginia election law.

Virginia: Homeless Have Right to Cast a Ballot | NBC29

Casting a ballot may be the last thing on your mind if you’re homeless but election officials say everyone’s voice matters. Even if you don’t have an address, you still have the right to vote here in Virginia.

Charlottesville City Councilor Kristin Szakos is taking voter registration to The Haven, where many didn’t know they can cast a ballot. “I think that when people’s lives are difficult, it’s hard to think about things like civic participation,” she said.

Sheri Iachetta is the city’s voter registrar and she wants to see more homeless voters coming out to the polls. “The people who are homeless don’t realize that they have the opportunity to register and vote. That’s what we’re realizing,” she said.

Virginia: Ruling: Virginia voter applications must be public | HamptonRoads.com

A federal judge has ruled that Virginia must make its voter registration applications available for public inspection. The opinion, issued Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith, stems from a lawsuit filed by the national voting rights group, Project Vote, which sought access to voter applications of Norfolk State University students in the 2008 presidential election.

The state Attorney General’s Office said Thursday it will ask the judge to stay the ruling while it prepares an appeal. Project Vote was seeking to investigate what it believed was an unusually high number of application rejections. It sued the head of Norfolk’s Office of Elections and the state Board of Elections.

Virginia: Elections board allows Virginians overseas voters to fax voter registration forms – legal concerns expressed| Richmond Times-Dispatch

The State Board of Elections made it easier on Wednesday for overseas voters, including military voters, to register to vote.

The board voted to allow overseas voters, which could also include embassy employees and contractors working in Afghanistan, to fax a voter application to a Virginia registrar.

“These people don’t have mail boxes on every corner,” said Charles E. Judd, chairman of the State Board of Elections. The proposed rules change would take effect Sept. 1, if approved by the U.S. Justice Department.

Virginia: Arlington Voting Machines Will Be Discussed with State Elections Chief | Sun Gazette Newspapers

The future of voting machines in the county will be among the topics of discussion when State Board of Elections Secretary Don Palmer meets with staff and officials of the Arlington registrar’s office on June 15.

County election officials say they are generally satisfied with the current crop of electronic voting machines that are in use alongside paper-ballot options in Arlington elections, but have also begun looking at new-generation equipment to deal with voting in the 2012 presidential election.

Because of the large turnout in presidential years – 110,000 Arlington voters cast ballots in 2008 – Arlington election officials rent voting equipment for those years, and have starting making contact with equipment manufacturers to find the best fit for the county.

Virginia: City of Bedford Virginia, Justice Department reach consent decree on section of Voting Rights Act | The Republic

The Justice Department and the city of Bedford have reached agreement on a vestige of the segregated South — federal oversight of its local elections.

Justice officials announced Thursday they have filed a consent decree in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia that would free the city of 6,222 from government approval of any election changes.

The election oversight is part of the Voting Rights Act, which was enacted in 1965 to address widespread election abuses intended to deny African-Americans the vote.

Virginia: The cost of voting in Virginia to go up | WTOP.com

The cost of voting has just gone up, big time, in some Virginia localities and the reaction is one of surprise.

The redistricting plan for both the state House and Senate approved by the General Assembly will create a large number of split voting precincts in Northern Virginia. Local governments will foot the bill for adding new voting machines and poll watchers, and for notifying voters when those changes take place. County governments could have to cut elsewhere to make up for the increased cost.

Virginia: State weighs in on Montgomery County Virginia vote flap | Roanoke.com

The state board of elections wants Montgomery County election officials to have more training in using electronic poll books and provisional ballots to prevent a repeat of mishaps that occurred in November’s elections.

The state board on Wednesday signed off on a letter censuring Montgomery County Registrar Randy Wertz and the three members of the county electoral board who were serving during the Nov. 2, 2010, election, when some voters were allowed to cast ballots without having their registration verified. The letter formalizes the state board’s April 29 decision to issue a censure based on findings by the state attorney general’s office.

Virginia: Montgomery County Virginia electoral officials meet with Attorney General’s office about voting irregularities | roanoke.com

The entire electoral leadership of Montgomery County met Tuesday with state investigators to discuss voting irregularities that took place nearly five months ago. State officials are trying to determine whether any laws were broken when normal voting procedures broke down in the Nov. 2 election. As expected, investigators interviewed election officials Tuesday at the County…