Ben tweeted this news earlier this afternoon:Woah- there is a real chance Mike Signer could be off the ballot... more to come... up to DPVA Chair Dick Cranwell to decide.From everything I'm hearing, Ben is 100% correct in his report; there really is a problem, a mistake by one of Signer's petition collectors that could result in several thousand signatures being thrown out as invalid and pushing Signer below the minimum 10,000 signature requirement. Not good if you're a Mike Signer fan (which I am).
One question I've got is how strictly the DPVA's rules are going to be enforced in this case. I'm torn; I like Mike Signer a lot, but on the other hand, "the rules are the rules" and you might as well not have them if they're not enforced. Sort of like when "Benedict" Lambert endorsed George Allen but then was NOT kicked out of the party, despite having agreed not to endorse a Republican in a contested election. Another question I've got is exactly HOW this decision will be made - in public or in a back room somewhere? If it's not made in public, might that not raise more questions than it answers and potentially lead to serious intra-Democratic Party acrimony. A third question I've got is how the Signer campaign could have let such a major, potentially fatal, error slip past them. Didn't anyone check these forms? Not good. Finally, I'm wondering who it might benefit - Jody Wagner, Jon Bowerbank, or neither - if Mike Signer is not on the Democratic ballot on June 9.
In the end, I guess I hope that this situation is resolved to everyone's satisfaction - preferably in as public and rule-based (e.g., non-arbitrary) manner as possible - in a way where Signer can stay on the ballot. If not, something tells me that the only one celebrating will be Bill Bolling. Ugh, what a mess.
UPDATE: It appears that Signer is on the ballot, per a decision by DPVA chair Dick Cranwell. The deal, apparently, is that the only LEGAL requirement was that the petition signature collector be a Virginia resident. The state party put the address requirement on its memo only for its own convenience in checking the signature collector's residency. In the end, the petition signature collector turns out (reportedly) to be a Virginia resident, so Dick Cranwell waived the DPVA address rule in this case. At least, that's what I'm hearing from a reliable source. Now, the question is, how will the Bowerbank and Wagner campaigns react, and also what will the impact (if any) be on the Signer campaign?
