Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry and the other remaining Republican presidential candidates notched a small victory in their lawsuit against the Virginia Board of Elections Tuesday.
Virginia U.S. District Court Judge John Gibney ordered elections officials to stop printing primary ballots for the upcoming Virginia Republican Primary election until Mr. Perry’s lawsuit is resolved.
Thus far, only former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Texas congressman Ron Paul are included on the Virginia Republican primary ballot. The other candidates, including Mr. Perry who filed his lawsuit in December, failed to meet the strict Virginia state primary requirements.
The Virginia Board of Elections requires candidates to obtain 10,000 signatures, 400 from each of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts. The signatures must be obtained after July 1st of the campaign year and the deadline was December 22nd.
Mr. Perry’s campaign staff confirmed that he turned in just over 6,000 signatures, but the Texas governor is claiming that Virginia’s primary ballot requirements are unconstitutional.
On Tuesday, Judge Gibney said that it is more than likely that the court will rule in favor of Mr. Perry and the other candidates.
“The public interest weighs heavily in favor of the plaintiffs,” said Mr. Gibney in a statement released Tuesday.
Virginia Republican Governor Bob McDonnell recently stated his position regarding the lawsuit. Mr. McDonnell does not believe his state should change its primary ballot requirements because the Republican candidates failed to obtain enough signatures.
“Every statewide candidate that’s been serious over the last 20 years that I’ve seen in Virginia has been able to get those signatures,” said Mr. McDonnell, in a January 3rd interview with WSLS Roanoke News. “And it’s been around for 40 years. Nobody should be surprised about these. But we’ve had any number of people – for Senate races, lieutenant governor, attorney general, governor, president, that have been able to get that done. It’s only become an issue this year.”
In contrast, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli recently came out in support of Mr. Perry and the other candidates attempting to have their names on the Virginia Republican primary ballot in March.
The Virginia Board of Elections usually starts distributing absentee ballots 45 days ahead of election day, which would mean they would start mailing absentee ballots on January 21st, ahead of the March 6th Super Tuesday Virginia Republican primary election.
Mr. Gibney stated Tuesday in his ruling that there was a “strong likelihood” that the court would find the signature requirements to be unconstitutional.
