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Gingrich cites fraud in Virginia ballot failure

1 of 13. Republican presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich speaks at a campaign stop at La Chiesa Restaurant in Spencer, Iowa, December 28, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Jim Young

MASON CITY, Iowa | Wed Dec 28, 2011 8:50pm EST

MASON CITY, Iowa (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said on Wednesday his failure to meet the requirements to take part in Virginia's presidential nominating contest resulted from fraud by a worker hired by his campaign.

Gingrich, who lives in Virginia, scrambled to submit the petitions necessary to get on the ballot on time, but the state party said on Saturday a review process showed he did not have the required 10,000 verifiable signatures.

Gingrich's campaign hired workers to gather those signatures, and the former speaker of the House of Representatives said at a campaign stop that one of those workers had committed fraud.

"We hired somebody who turned in false signatures. We turned in 11,100 - we needed 10,000 - 1,500 of them were by one guy who frankly committed fraud," Gingrich said, according to CNN.

Gingrich had been leading his Republican rivals in the state. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Texas Congressman Ron Paul were the only candidates from the field of top Republican candidates to qualify to be on Virginia's ballot.

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry also failed to qualify in Virginia because he lacked the 10,000 verifiable signatures.

On Tuesday he filed a federal lawsuit challenging Virginia's qualification process on constitutional grounds. Perry said it restricts the access of the state's voters to the candidates of their choosing.

(Reporting By Jeff Mason; Editing by Xavier Briand)
Politics
Barack Obama
Election 2012
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Comments (3)
IntoTheTardis wrote:
I live in Virginia. And it’s unfathomable to me that in such a conservative state Newt was unable to get a paltry 10,ooo legitimate signatures. In one hour you could get 10,000 people to sign off on Obama being an alien hybrid. And Newt submitted only 11,500? He could have got that many in one Shenandoah Valley town alone. What an incompetent.

Dec 28, 2011 11:11pm EST  --  Report as abuse
BruceBanner wrote:
Gee, Newt would make a great President:

“Hey, it’s not my fault the FBI didn’t catch that guy who nuked New York City. The FBI Director I appointed lied on his resume – no way I could have known THAT. I’m suing the Director for fraud – no way people are gonna blame this on ME.”

Dec 28, 2011 11:34pm EST  --  Report as abuse
matthewslyman wrote:
This sort of thing can happen with government spending too, just like it does with campaign spending. Incentivize your staff with “cents per signature”, fail to apply adequate oversight (GPS tracking of mobile phone positions during working hours, or, selecting people you can actually trust); and the results are predictable: some staff will attempt to cheat. Did Gingrich and his chosen campaign managers implement no way of verifying signatures prior to submitting them?

Dec 29, 2011 2:15am EST  --  Report as abuse
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