When the laws your party created keep you from being on the ballot - Sue!

[liberal N proud]

Rick Perry sues Virginia to get on primary ballot

By Pete Williams and Carrie Dann, NBC News
After failing to secure a spot in Virginia's presidential primary, the presidential campaign of Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday filed a federal court challenge to the state's stringent ballot access rules.

Perry was one of several candidates, including Newt Gingrich, who failed to gather 10,000 individual voters' signatures by Friday's deadline.

"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," said Perry communications director Ray Sullivan in a statement.

Perry's lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of a state law that says those who circulate petitions to get a candidate on the ballot must be eligible, or registered, to vote in the state. Perry claims that requirement violates his freedom of speech and association.


http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/27/9750277-rick-perry-sues-virginia-to-get-on-primary-ballot

[former9thward]

1. The state legislature creates the laws not the political parties.

If Perry is suing because a person needs to be registered to vote in order to circulate petitions he will win. Arizona had the same law and a federal court tossed it for being unconstitutional.

[liberal N proud]

2. Which party controls the state legislature?

[former9thward]

5. When that law was written, who knows?

Have to know the year it went on the books.

[liberal N proud]

7. It was the GOP who did this...

Put another way, Winger says Republican officials used to essentially ignore the legal requirement that signatures be verified, accepting raw signatures instead. But this year, things were different. The state GOP gave the list of signatures a close look, Winger says, which is why Gingrich and Perry (who both professed to turn in more than 10,000 signatures) didn’t make it.

Osborne ran as an independent after he says the Republicans denied him a shot at the GOP ballot line. Then he filed a lawsuit against his local GOP in October, claiming it was unfair that he had to have his signatures verified by the state while his GOP opponent only had to get the sign off from the Republican Party. The legal action is still underway, but Winger wrote the suit led the state GOP to switch up its verification procedures (or, put a different way, start having some.)


http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/12/meet-the-reason-newt-gingrich-isnt-on-the-va-ballot.php?ref=fpnewsfeed

[malaise]

3. I thought these ReTHUGS were all promoters of

States rights

[uncleroy]

6. no subject

they sure as hell aren t for voter s rights!

[zbdent]

4. new to me, but it makes sense (at least, in the GOP) ... Candidate Fraud ...

the state of Virginia must be trying to avoid fraudulent candidates ...