Virginia Voter Who Signed Gingrich Petition Sues Over Petition Form

Reginald Johnson, DC Ex-Offender Re-Entry Examiner
December 30, 2011

Some Republican presidential candidates want to be on the Virginian GOP primary ballot so that they are willing to sue the state to get it done.

Jonathon A. Moseley, a Northern Virginia Tea party-republican lawyer and state activist, filed a lawsuit in Richmond City Circuit Court.

The Washington Times reports,

The lawsuit alleges that Mr. Gingrich submitted over 11,000 signatures to fully satisfy the requirement, but “a great many” of them were improperly counted as invalid. At a stop in Iowa Wednesday, Mr. Gingrich said a worker the campaign hired to collect signatures committed fraud, leaving him short of the necessary 10,000 to qualify for the ballot.

Mr. Moseley said that he signed ballot petitions for both Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Perry and the form does not leave much room to write in one’s address, leading him to suspect that many addresses were crammed in and rendered illegible. The suit alleges that the majority of the petition signatures for Mr. Gingrich were disqualified “on the basis of a missing or illegible or incomplete address being provided with the signature.”

A federal judge issued a January 13, 2012, hearing date for Texas Governor Rick Perry’s lawsuit whichhad already been filed.

Both men are desperately trying to get on the ballot. Neither Gingrich nor Perry gathered the 10,000 valid ballot signatures needed to be on The Old Dominion ballot, although former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Texas U.S. House Rep. Ron Paul did get the required number of valid signatures.

"I read in the paper that these GOP candidates were told months ago what they needed to be on he ballot," said William Harper, a Virginia resident who's a returning citizen and registered Democrat.

He added, "What's going on with this GOP primary is better than any reality TV program. It's like watching a political soap opera, or a Baldacci novel put on the small screen."

Samantha Washington, a Virginia resident and registered Republican is worried.

"All of these lawsuits and other things that take away from the political message could come back to haunt us," she said via email. She does offer hope by saying in part, "The party is strong and historically well-funded, so there is hope."

Mosley is not connected with the Gingrich campaign.