ROANOKE (WSLS 10) - Donald Trump is lashing out at the Virginia Republican Party.
The GOP front runner is upset the Party is requiring voters to sign a form declaring themselves Republicans before casting their ballots in the upcoming primary election in March.
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Through a series of tweets, Trump says the new rule will alienate independent voters who may not feel comfortable registering with the Republican Party.
Thanks to this new rule instituted by the Republican Party in Virginia this year, you'll have to sign a form before you're even allowed to enter a poll booth, but speaking with analyst Ed Lynch, he says the fact Donald Trump opposes this move could tell us a lot about his outlook on the rest of his campaign.
In a tweet Sunday, Donald Trump addressed the Virginia GOP's latest move to require voters to sign a pledge of allegiance to the Party.
"It begins" Trump says.
"The Republican Party of Virginia is working hard to disallow independent, unaffiliated new voters. Bad!"
Speaking with political analyst Ed Lynch, he says the Republican Party is simply solidifying a stance it's held for a long time.
"He says it begins, but there's nothing new about this. The Republican Party of Virginia has required for some time what strikes me as simply common sense, which is that Republicans should nominate Republicans," said Lynch.
Lynch says the GOP does not want other parties having a say in who its nominee is going to be, and for good reason.
"You can't have it both ways. You can't say I'm not affiliated with the party, but I want to take part in one of the most important processes that that party undertakes, which is nominating a presidential candidate," said Lynch.
Meanwhile, Roanoke General Registrar Andrew Cochran says there are some reasons to oppose the new move.
He says for one, longer wait times are almost guaranteed.
"The time having to explain to people that are not already familiar with it will be a little bit of a delay, as well as having to read the statement and sign it will be just an extra step," said Cochran.
Lynch says he has a solution to this: just make everyone declare their affiliation beforehand.
"This entire process would be much, much easier on everybody if we had registration by party in Virginia, as over 30 states do," said Lynch.
As for Trump, Lynch says in opposing this move by Virginia's GOP, he may be revealing his own doubts about the strength of his candidacy.
"If Democrats are going to vote in the Republican primary, naturally those Democrats are going to vote for the weakest candidate. The fact that Donald Trump is opposed to this seems to indicate that he believes that by the time this process gets to Virginia, that he might be the weakest candidate," said Lynch.