The Virginia Board of Elections denied Chris Dodd’s appeal to be on the Democratic presidential primary ballot. His campaign had turned his signatures in to the Richmond City Hall, instead of to the office of the State Board of Elections, on the last day. His campaign had asked the State Board of Elections to overlook that error, but the State Board refused.
The voters of Santa Fe, New Mexico, will vote on March 4 on whether to amend the city charter, to use Instant-Runoff Voting for elections for city officers. The amendment would take effect in 2010 if the vote-counting machines can handle IRV by then.
Rhode Island requires 1,000 signatures for candidates to get on a presidential primary ballot. The deadline for turning the signatures into the towns is December 26 at 4 p.m.
So far, these 9 Republican candidates have submitted signatures to Providence city elections officials: Hugh Cort, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, Alan Keyes, John McCain, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson.
These 5 Democrats have submitted signatures to Providence: Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama. Since this post is being written 2 hours and 30 minutes before the deadline, it is not possible to know if Joe Biden and Bill Richardson will also file. UPDATE: Biden and Richardson also turned in signatures before the deadline.
New Jersey requires 1,000 signatures for a candidate to get on the Democratic or Republican presidential primary ballots. As reported earlier, six Democrats and six Republicans turned in petitions in New Jersey.
New Jersey elections officials do not check the validity of these petitions. Some of the candidates turned in just barely over 1,000 signatures. Among the Democrats, Joe Biden only turned in 1,018, and Dennis Kucinich only turned in 1,052. Among the Republicans, Fred Thompson only turned in 1,133. However, no one challenged any petition, and the challenge period is over.
Republicans running in the District of Columbia presidential primary needed 298 signatures of registered Republicans. Although Fred Thompson’s campaign took out petition blanks, his campaign didn’t turn in any signatures. The D.C. Board of Elections does not check the validity of these signatures, so he would have been on the ballot if he had turned in a petition that had at least 298 names on it.
