Republican presidential candidates Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich have each filed an emergency appeal to the Virginia court ruling last week to keep them off the Virginia Republican primary ballot in March.
Mr. Perry reportedly asked a U.S. appeals court to either halt the printing of absentee ballots in Virginia or to place his name on the ballot. Mr. Gingrich did the same on Friday.
In December, the Texas governor originally was the lone candidate to file a lawsuit against the Virginia Board of Elections regarding their signature requirements for the purpose of qualifying for primary ballots in Virginia. Candidates are required to turn in 10,000 signatures, with 400 signatures from each of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts.
Shortly after filing the lawsuit, several of the other Republican candidates who were left off the ballot joined him in the lawsuit. However, after former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman dropped out of the race Tuesday, it is likely that only Mr. Perry and Mr. Gingrich will be pursuing the appeal process in Virginia going forward.
On Friday, Virginia U.S. District Court Judge John Gibney ruled against Mr. Perry in his original lawsuit, claiming that he and the other candidates had ample time to collect enough signatures. Mr. Gibney also said that the candidates should have filed their lawsuit well in advance before they actually missed the December deadline to turn in signatures.
Mr. Perry’s campaign team confirmed in December that they had only turned in close to 6,000 signatures.
Mr. Gingrich’s staff reportedly did turn in over 10,000 signatures but not all of them were validated by the Virginia Board of Elections, thus leading him to join Mr. Perry’s original lawsuit.
If Mr. Perry and Mr. Gingrich are unsuccessful in their appeal of the ruling against them, only former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Texas congressman Ron Paul will be included on the Virginia Republican primary ballot on Super Tuesday in March.
In December, Mr. Romney poked fun at Mr. Gingrich in comparing him to Lucille Ball of “I Love Lucy” fame for not qualifying for the primary ballot in the state of which he is a resident. Mr. Gingrich and his wife Callista reside in McLean, Virginia, a suburb of Washington D.C.
Virginia Republican Governor Bob McDonnell essentially was compassionate for both sides of the lawsuit, but eventually came out against Mr. Perry in a statement earlier this month claiming that the Texas governor and the other candidates had ample time and knew the signature requirements well ahead of time. He also pointed out the fact that he and other Virginia public officials were able to meet the requirements several times for their own campaigns.
The decision by Mr. Perry to appeal the ruling could also be a sign that he has aspirations of staying in the Republican primary race through at least March 6th, the date of the Virginia Republican primary election. In an American Research Group poll of South Carolina voters released Friday, Mr. Perry finished with 9 percent of the votes in fourth place behind the front running Mr. Romney, Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Paul.
Mr. Perry filed the appeal with the following statement Monday.
“The court abused its discretion in determining movant rested on his rights for such a period of time to allow the commonwealth to trample on movant’s First Amendment rights,” said Mr. Perry.
