Perry files appeal to get onto Va. ballot

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - Rick Perry filed an appeal on Sunday to be placed on Virginia's ballot, two days after a district judge in Virginia ruled that he and three other candidates had waited too long before filing their suit to participate in the state's primary.

The appeal argues it would have been impossible for Perry to sue for ballot access any sooner than he did, two business days after he was notified that he did not submit the required 10,000 signatures to have his name on the ballot.

"Another illogical result of the District Court's reasoning is that it would require [Perry], or any candidate for the Presidency, to pre-emptively apply for injunctive relief while there remains a possibility that they may collect the requisite number of signatures to appear on the primary ballot. This is absurd. Candidates for the presidency are focused on running for president, not on fighting legal battles to pre-emptively hold state election laws unconstitutional," the appeal says.

Perry's campaign is still seeking to get his name placed on the ballot - or at least have the printing and distribution of ballots for the March 6 primary halted until his appeal is resolved. The Fourth Circuit has instructed lawyers for the state to respond by Monday.

U.S. District Judge John Gibney ruled on Jan. 13 that Perry - along with Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum, who joined Perry in his suit - would not be placed on the ballot, although he also found that the state's rule that the people who collect ballot petition signatures be Virginia residents would likely be found unconstitutional.

Federal judge rules against challenge to Va. ballot

"There's something wrong there," Perry said of Virginia's balloting laws in a Fox News appearance on Saturday, just hours after his campaign filed the appeal. He pointed to the fact that only two of the seven candidates in the race - Mitt Romney and Ron Paul - were able to get on the ballot as evidence.