CNN’s election night coverage for Maryland, Virginia and D.C. is here. Maryland polls are open until 9:30 pm so any Maryland returns will be late.
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Indiana requires 4,500 signatures for candidates to get on a presidential primary ballot. Six candidates turned in signatures. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama filed in the Democratic primary. Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Ron Paul and Mitt Romney turned in signatures for the Republican primary. It is not known why Romney turned in signatures, since he has withdrawn from the competition.
On February 12, Pennsylvania’s Governor issued an order, extending the filing period for candidates seeking a place on Democratic and Republican primary ballots, from 5 p.m. on Tuesday (February 12), to noon on Thursday (February 14). The reason was that wintery weather had slowed down transportation.
Notwithstanding the extension, the only five presidential candidates who had been expected to file a petition, did so. They are Hillary Clinton and Barack in the Democratic primary; and Mike Huckabee, John McCain, and Ron Paul in the Republican primary. Each needed 2,000 signatures of party members, plus additional petitions to qualify candidates for Delegate in various U.S. House districts.
Mike Huckabee has been on record ever since August 2007 as being in favor of full voting rights for citizens who live in the District of Columbia. However, in September 2007 John McCain voted against the bill to give D.C. a voting representative in the U.S. House. He has not addressed the subject since then, as far as is known.
The North Carolina Libertarian Party has taken years to finish its petition for 2008, but the signature gathering is complete. As soon as the signatures are sorted out properly, they will be submitted. Almost 100,000 signatures were collected; the legal requirement is 69,734.