Partisan candidates treated differently in Virginia

This month, members of the General Assembly are gathering in Richmond, while “legislators are buzzing about the exclusion of four major Republican candidates from the presidential preference ballot in Virginia on Super Tuesday.”

“Missing in that conversation is any discussion of a loophole that gives political parties power to say whether or not candidates have met the letter of the law. Unlike independent candidates, who are required to have their ballot petitions certified by a local registrar, Republican and Democratic chairmen across Virginia are given unlimited discretion and no oversight.”