As Charlie Bakst has noted, Rhode Island's presidential primary in March will pretty much be an afterthought. Be that as it may, the office of Secretary of State Ralph Mollis reports that six more candidates have qualified for the RI ballot:
In order to appear on the March 4 ballot, Mollis must certify that the presidential hopefuls had collected the signatures of at least 1,000 eligible Rhode Island voters on their nomination papers.
Late last month, Obama became the first candidate to reach the qualifying threshold. The latest additions are Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republicans Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Ron Paul and Mitt Romney.
“We are posting running totals on our website so Rhode Islanders can track the progress of their favorite candidate. Based on the number of signatures that were submitted, it appears likely that all the established candidates remaining in the race will be on the ballot,”
said Mollis.
Clinton leads all candidates with 1,900 certified signatures. Ron Paul is the top Republican with 1,727 signatures. Republican Fred Thompson is closest to making the cut with 939 certified signatures. At 750, John Edwards is the closest Democrat to the 1,000-signature threshold.
Getting on the ballot is a two-step process. First, the candidates had until Dec. 26 to submit signatures to municipal elections officials for initial validation. Then, cities and towns have until Jan. 10 to submit the names to the secretary of state’s office for final certification.
The next milestone in the state’s presidential primary calendar is Feb. 1, when Mollis will hold a public lottery at the State House to determine the order in which the candidates will appear on the Democratic and Republican ballots.