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Washington (AP) —The Republican Party of Virginia filed a lawsuit on Thursday calling on the court to remove it from ballots for failing to sign an official form proclaiming the candidacy of Democratic governor candidate Terry McAuliffe. The McCorriff campaign dismissed the proceedings as “desperate” and “tranpian.”
McCorriff won the Democratic primary in June. However, the proceedings argue that Mr. McCorriff should be disqualified from running for the November general election due to the lack of Mr. McCorriff’s signature.
In a complaint filed in the Richmond Circuit Court, the Republican Party said, “The declaration must be declared legally inadequate and McCorriff must be disqualified from appearing on the ballot for the general election. “.
Renzo Oliveri, a spokesman for McCorriff, dismissed the proceedings, saying he had submitted the necessary documents for the campaign.
“This is just a desperate Trumpian move by the Virginia GOP to deprive voters of their choices in this election, as Terry has always been a leader in polls,” he said in a statement.
The formal “candidate declaration” McCorriff, submitted to the state’s Election Commission to participate in the Democratic primary in March, actually lacks his signature. The form contained the signatures of two witnesses.
Former Virginia Governor and long-time equipment in democratic politics, McCorriff will be in his second term against Republican Glenn Youngkin, a former investment fund executive. McCorriff previously served as an office from 2014 to 2018, but state law prohibited him from seeking consecutive terms.
The Virginia Elections Department declined to comment. But some state election law experts said it would be surprising if the proceedings had a leg.
Michael Gilbert, Vice Dean of the University of Virginia School of Law, said: He said candidates could be removed from ballots due to sloppy paperwork, but I suspected this would be the case.
“The breach is harmless, and the sought-after remedy, the removal of McCorriff from the November general election ballot, is extreme. The remedy confuses many plans and irritates many voters. , All provide minor rules (those that were so minor that no one noticed the error before), “he wrote in an email. Federal democracy. “
Election law expert Rick Hasen, who teaches at the University of California, Irvine, says that different states have different standards for enforcing election rules, and some states are more “technical” than others. He said he was far more tolerant of “difficulty.”
But “as a general matter, it’s amazing to see courts knock out key candidates from ballots for professionalism,” he said.
Virginia is the only state in the country to hold a governor’s election this year, and the contest is noted as a barometer of voters’ feelings towards next year’s midterm elections to decide which party will rule parliament. I am. Republicans want to break through a decade-long defeat in state-wide races.
In 2019, Virginia Congressman Nick Freitas was forced to run a writing campaign after being disqualified for a paperwork snuff.
___ The Associated Press writer Sararankin contributed to this report.
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