You will recall that in 2012, only two Republicans--Mitt Romney and Ron Paul--appeared on the primary ballot. (Democrats, with President Obama running unopposed, did not need one). After the filing deadline, Rick Perry initiated a lawsuit, joined later by Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum, contending that Virginia's filing requirements were unfair and that they should be added to the ballot, because, hey. The suit was thrown out on the equitable doctrine of laches. That is, the filing requirements were well known to them all along, yet they never complained until they failed to meet them.

Up to and including the election of 2012 you needed 10,000 valid signatures, including 400 from each Congressional district. This is now seen as excessively burdensome, so the requirements were halved for this time around--5,000 valid signatures including 200 from each district. There continue to be strict requirements about who gathers the signatures and how they are handled. It was actually this part of the filing requirements that caused the most trouble for the campaigns.

Only the Democratic and Republican parties are recognized in Virginia, and permitted to participate in state-run primaries if they so choose. To become recognized, you've got to get 10% of the vote in an election. The last time a third-party presidential candidate did better than 10% in Virginia was Ross Perot in 1992. The best ever showing for a third party was, sadly, George Wallace's 23% in 1968.

Dave Sagarin (December 11, 2015)