The District of Columbia Republican presidential primary rules gives candidates a choice of either paying a $10,000 filing fee to the party, or else getting 296 signatures of registered Republicans and paying a fee of $5,000 to the party. These rules changed recently; previously all candidates were required to collect 296 signatures, but the new law gives them a choice of either paying the higher fee and no signatures, or the lower fee plus signatures.
Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, and Rick Perry all chose the $10,000 filing fee so as to avoid collecting signatures. The only Republicans who chose the $5,000 filing fee plus the signatures are Jon Huntsman and Mitt Romney. Rick Santorum will not be on the ballot. However, D.C. permits write-ins in presidential primaries and does count write-ins in presidential primaries if it appears that the write-in candidate may have polled enough write-ins to get even one delegate to the national convention. UPDATE: although the Democratic and Green Party presidential primaries permit write-ins, the Republican presidential primary does not. This is a decision made by each party.
The law lets each party set its own fee. The Democratic Party let candidates either submit a petition, or pay a $2,500 fee. President Obama is the only candidate who filed, and he did it with the petition, which required 1,000 signatures from registered Democrats.
The Green Party presidential primary will carry Jill Stein, who got on the ballot by collecting 41 signatures of registered Greens.
