Update: Democratic Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe will stay on the ballot.

On Wednesday, Sept. 29, a Richmond Circuit Court judge dismissed a lawsuit seeking to remove McAuliffe from the ballot over a signature error.  The ruling came shortly after the final debate of the campaign. Polls show that the race is extremely close between McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin.

Original:

The Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) has filed a lawsuit seeking to remove Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe from the November general election ballot.

They allege McAuliffe didn’t sign a declaration of candidacy form filed sometime in early March, before the primary.

An independent copy of the form obtained from the Department of Elections is indeed missing McAuliffe’s signature in the box labeled SIGNATURE OF CANDIDATE. The department declined to comment. 

The lawsuit was filed in the Richmond Circuit Court Thursday.

In a statement, McAuliffe spokesperson Renzo Olivari said, “Our campaign submitted the required paperwork. This is nothing more than a desperate Trumpian move by the Virginia GOP to deprive voters of a choice in this election because Terry is consistently leading in the polls.”

McAuliffe is leading Republican Glenn Youngkin by nine points in the latest poll from Christopher Newport University, released today.

Olivari is listed as one of two witnesses on the paperwork, according to a copy provided by RPV. He did not respond to questions about whether he witnessed McAuliffe sign a form. RPV says those witnesses made false statements since they attested they saw McAuliffe sign, but he did not.

The related section of the law does not specifically mention requiring a candidate signature but states, “The declaration shall be acknowledged before some officer who has the authority to take acknowledgments to deeds, or attested by two witnesses who are qualified voters of the election district.”

“Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of our democracy, and Terry McAuliffe’s clear violation of the law severely jeopardizes the integrity of our elections in Virginia,” Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Rich Anderson said in a statement, saying McAuliffe is a “fraudulent candidate and cannot be Virginia’s next governor.”

Paperwork snafus have had consequences in the past in Virginia. Del. Nick Freitas missed paperwork deadlines, forcing him to run as a write-in candidate in 2019, though he still won the race in the heavily red district.

It’s unclear if a judge would hear the case or how they would rule.

Democratic officials say a Richmond Circuit Court Judge, Bradley B. Cavedo, has already preliminarily turned down similar arguments. The Washington Post reports Cavedo rejected a request for a temporary injunction to stop printing ballots with McAuliffe’s name on them.

“Two Virginia voters, Roy L. Perry-Bey and Carlos A. Howard, argue in that suit that McAuliffe should not legally appear on the ballot, in part because he did not sign the candidate form,” the Post reports. While that case hasn’t been formally ruled, the voters’ attorney told the Post the judge rejected the request and they have appealed.

Several election law experts expressed skepticism that the lawsuit would succeed, the Associated Press reports.

Rick Hasen, an election law expert who teaches at the University of California, Irvine, told the AP that states have varying standards when it comes to enforcing election rules, with some states much more forgiving of “technical difficulties” than others.

But “as a general matter, it would be surprising to see a court knock a major candidate for office off the ballot for a technicality,” he said.

Some groups are suggesting McAuliffe could withdraw from the race and be re-nominated by the party, a move that has been tried before in Freitas’ case and didn’t work.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. This post has been updated with the information of a judge’s dismissal of the lawsuit.