By now most of you are aware that Rick Perry's and Newt Gingrich's petitions to be placed on the Virginia primary ballot were denied, however new information suggests that literally half of the signatures obtained by the Rick Perry campaign were denied.
Worse still for Perry, it appears that only about half of the 11,900 signatures his campaign submitted were even valid. [...]
According to the Virginia GOP, Perry turned in 11,900 signatures, well over the required 10,000 — in years past, that would have automatically qualified him for the primary ballot, no questions asked. But in the campaign’s court filing, the text explains that Perry “submitted to the Board over 6,000 petition signatures from qualified Virginia voters,” suggesting that nearly half of Perry’s petition entries were examined by the state party and struck down.
The reasons for rejecting a signature include not having a valid address or a fake name, among other things.
In the past a simple signature was enough, but a lawsuit filed by a former candidate lead to the requirement that signatures face closer scrutiny.
The Rick Perry campaign has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the denial.