WASHINGTON – When former House Speaker Newt Gingrich heads to the polls in the Virginia primary, he won’t be able to simply check the box by his name to vote for himself.

WTOP has learned Gingrich is registered to vote in Virginia, but his name will not appear on the March primary ballot because he didn’t get enough signatures.

The Republican Party of Virginia announced late Friday and early Saturday that neither Gingrich nor Texas Gov. Rick Perry will be on the ballot for the state’s primary.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and Texas Rep. Ron Paul are the only two Republican presidential candidates to appear on the state’s primary ballot.

Gingrich had said earlier in the week he had enough signatures to get on the ballot, and planned to deliver the signatures in person.

“It’s really a debacle… there’s no other word I could use,” says WTOP Political Analyst Mark Plotkin.

A statement from Gingrich’s campaign director Michael Krull called Virginia’s system “failed” for only including two major candidates.

“Voters deserve the right to vote for any top contender, especially leading candidates,” says Krull in the written statement.

He adds that the campaign will pursue an aggressive write-in campaign.

However, write-in votes aren’t allowed in Virginia primaries.

The law says: “At all elections except primary elections it shall be lawful for any voter to vote for any person other than the listed candidates for the office by writing or hand printing the person’s name on the official ballot.”

Plotkin describes the system in Virginia to get on the ballot as “difficult and arduous.”

A candidate needs to get a total of 10,000 signatures, with 400 from each of the state’s 11 congressional districts.

Adding to the irony, Gingrich had a slight lead over Romney, with others farther back, in a Quinnipiac poll of Virginia Republicans released earlier in the week.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Follow WTOP on Twitter.

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