Election official says Santorum doesn't qualify for Indiana ballot
Rick Santorum has failed to qualify for the May 8 Indiana presidential primary ballot, the Marion County voter registration office determined on Friday - a decision that Santorum's campaign says it plans to challenge.
"We are very confident that we are gonna end up being on the ballot in Indiana," campaign spokesman Hogan Gidley told National Journal/CBS News. "We submitted almost double the amount of required signatures, and more than anyone else. We are working with Secretary of State's office and other state officials to ensure all of those signatures count."
Indiana law requires presidential primary petitions to contain 500 signatures from each of the state's nine congressional districts, and those signatures are certified or rejected by county voter registration offices. The petition filing deadline was noon on Jan. 31. In Indianapolis-based Marion County, which includes the 7th District, Santorum fell 25 signatures short.
The campaign said many of the signatures were rejected because of illegibility and extraneous markings, but a spokesman for the Marion County voter registration office said they expect Santorum to seek a new opinion on the basis of redistricting. New lines went into effect July 1, after petitions had been issued to the candidates.
President Obama, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Rep. Ron Paul - the only other active candidates - have all been certified for the ballot.
