[Update] According to Virginia Politics, Gingrich and Perry, after verification, did not meet the reuirement, so only Paul and Romney actually qualify. Headline has been changed to reflect the new report.
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry failed to submit enough valid signatures to qualify for the Virginia primary ballot, state GOP officials said Friday evening and early Saturday.
The Republican Party of Virginia announced early Saturday that Gingrich and Perry failed to submit 10,000 signatures of registered voters required to get their names on the ballot for the March 6 primary.
“After verification, RPV has determined that Newt Gingrich did not submit required 10k signatures and has not qualified for the VA primary,” the party announced on Twitter.
The rejection is a significant setback for the Gingrich campaign since he is leading the polls in Virginia among likely Republican voters and is seen as a strong contender for the nomination.
Perry’s campaign told state election officials it had submitted 11,911 signatures, and Gingrich’s campaign said it submitted 11,050 signatures. State party officials spent Friday night validating the signatures.
Original post below:
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that only four GOP presidential candidates met the qualifications to have their name on the Virginia March 6, 2012, primary ballot.
Four Republican presidential candidates – Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry and Ron Paul -- submitted paper work in time to qualify for Virginia's March 6 primary ballot.
No other GOP contender will be on the Virginia ballot. Rep. Michele Bachmann, former Sen. Rick Santorum and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman did not submit signatures with Virginia's State Board of Elections by today's 5 p.m. deadline.
According to the Green Papers, from information available and updated if changes are made, Virginia has 49 delegates.
I have to agree with AllahPundit atHot Air, for Bachmann, Huntsman, and Santorum to simply forfeit 49 delegates in this manner by not meeting the qualifications to put their name on the Virginia ballot, is an epic failure.
Also from the Green Papers, preliminary estimates show a Republican candidate needs 1,144 out of the available 2,286, to obtain the GOP nomination to become the candidate that face off against Barack Obama in the November 2012 presidential election.
The NYT has the Primary Calendar with all the dates the primaries and caucuses are scheduled.
(Updates and changes have been added to this post and headline to reflect new information.)