On January 24, the Virginia Senate voted on SB 1236, the bill to lower the number of signatures for statewide independents and the nominees of unqualified parties from 10,000 to 5,000. Initially the bill passed, 20-19. But then reconsideration was granted. When the Senate voted again, two Senators who had voted for it the first time changed their vote, so it lost 18-21.
The petition requirement for president is already 5,000, but all other statewide offices are 10,000. This is true for both the primary and the general election petitions.
Virginia is one of only nine states in which the Republican and Democratic Parties are the only ballot-qualified parties. The others are Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Washington.
I wonder how much money it cost to change those 2 senators minds
Population of Virginia = 8.3 million
Population of London = 8.6 million
Signatures required to nominate a candidate for Governor = 10,000 + $3,500
signatures required to nominate a candidate for Mayor = 330 + £10,000 (returned of you get more than 5% of the vote) + £10,000 towards the cost of a booklet distributed to all homes in London that includes the platforms of all candidates
And America is the home of democracy?
@ChrisInEngland
Well, surely you have hundreds or thousands of candidates filing to run, causing MASS voter confusion and chaos…right? That’s what our politicians say is the reason for these restrictions…they wouldn’t lie to us would they?