7 years ago

(CNN) - Texas Gov. Rick Perry will not appear on the Virginia primary ballot after submitting a petition that didn't meet the commonwealth's requirements, the Virginia Republican Party announced Friday.

In an announcement on their Twitter feed, the Virginia GOP wrote, "After verification, RPV has determined that Rick Perry did not submit the required 10k signatures and has not qualified for the VA primary."



Perry was one of four candidates who submitted ballot petitions Thursday to the Virginia State Board of Elections. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Texas Rep. Ron Paul and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich also submitted petitions.

That left three current candidates, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, without a place on the Virginia ballot.

The state party spent Friday verifying that the submitted petitions met the requirements to appear on the ballot. The Virginia GOP said on their Twitter feed Friday that Romney and Paul had both submitted enough signatures to appear on the ballot.

Virginia requires candidates to submit petitions with 10,000 signatures from registered Virginia voters. Additionally, 400 signatures must come from voters in each of the commonwealth's eleven congressional districts.

Perry's campaign said in a statement they were looking at the decision closely.

"Despite aggressive efforts collecting thousands of Virginia signatures after Governor Perry's mid-August entry into the race, we were notified this evening of apparently falling short of the 10,000 voter signatures needed to qualify," Perry Communications Director Ray Sullivan said in a statement. "We will closely review the facts and law to determine whether an appeal or challenge is warranted."

He continued, "This is an isolated situation and does not impact Governor Perry qualifying for the ballot in every other state. Gov. Perry has the utmost respect for the strong place Virginia holds in our nation's economic and military strength and in American history. He will continue to work hard to build strong support in Virginia and earn the trust of conservative-minded voters there."

Virginia holds its Republican primary on March 6.