Donald Trump Slams Virginia GOP Over Loyalty Pledge For Primary Voters

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Veterans Memorial Building, Saturday, Dec. 19, 2015, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
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Donald Trump tore into the Virginia Republican party in a Twitter rant on Sunday, criticizing the state GOP’s decision to require residents voting in the Republican primary to sign a statement signaling their loyalty to the Republican party.

Voters in Virginia are not required to register with a party in order to vote in a primary, and instead choose a party ballot when they arrive at the polls.

The Virginia state Board of Elections on Dec. 16 approved a Republican party’s proposal that those who vote in the GOP primary must sign a form declaring that they are Republicans.

John Findlay, the executive director of the Virginia GOP, said that the form is simply a way “to ensure Republican voters select our Republican nominee in 2016.”

“As this Statement of Affiliation gets discussed, many in the media are misconstruing its intent and terminology. It is not an ‘oath’ or ‘pledge’ in any way. It is not targeting any candidate, group of voters or an unreasonable barrier to voting. These nine words were used specifically to avoid any confusion or reference to past attempts,” he said in a Dec. 17 statement. “Requiring the signing of a Statement is a far lower barrier to participation than in States that require Party registration for voters participation in primaries.”

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  1. If T rump wasn’t a Democrat, maybe he would know what the RNC typically does.

  2. And just how are they going to enforce it? I could walk in, sign the pledge (and where / who is supposed to administer it - the poll workers?) vote for the screwiest GOOPER (and which would that be?) then walk out and put a curse on the whole party, and what are they going to do to stop me?

    Side note: the “pledge” that Democrats signed was part of the registration to participate in a party caucus meeting to select representatives to a statewide convention. Nothing unusual in that, simply a declaration that participants in this internal process were sincere. Quite different.

  3. I don’t think I could survive 4 years of this guy in office.
    But for a sort of demeaning Monday morning comedy?

    Do democrats need to sign a loyalty pledge to get a ballot?

  4. So this is just another meaningless and unenforceable gesture by the GOP. They do seem to love these things.

  5. You won’t have to survive 5 minutes of him in office. He’s not going there and this stunt is a good reason why. If’ your a Democrat and vote in the GOP primary whom are you going to vote for? Trump or Cruz. Neither can win a general election. The Va. GOP know this. They are doing the man a favor. If he wins Va. under these rules he has a real win. If he wins with the rules he wants he probably has a fake. He should appreciate what the GOP is doing albeit it it’s not because they want to help him.

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