Senate Bill No. 271
(By Senators Williams and Plymale)
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[Introduced February 16, 2009; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §3-5-8 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; and to amend and reenact §3-6-4a of said
code, all relating to elections; requiring write-in candidates
for public office to pay a filing fee for the office sought;
and providing for distribution of the fee in the same manner
as other candidates.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §3-5-8 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be
amended and reenacted; and that §3-6-4a of said code be amended and
reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. PRIMARY ELECTIONS AND NOMINATING PROCEDURES.
§3-5-8. Filing fees and their disposition.
Every person who becomes a candidate for nomination for or
election to office in any primary election
or who seeks nomination
or election as a write-in candidate under the provisions of section
four-a, article six of this chapter shall, at the time of filing
the certificate of announcement as required in this article, pay a filing fee as follows:
(a) A candidate for President of the United States, for Vice
President of the United States, for United States Senator, for
member of the United States House of Representatives, for Governor
and for all other state elective offices shall pay a fee equivalent
to one percent of the annual salary of the office for which the
candidate announces:
Provided, That the filing fee for any
candidate for President or Vice President of the United States
shall not exceed $2,500 commencing with the 2004 filing period;
(b) A candidate for the office of judge of a circuit court and
judge of a family court shall pay a fee equivalent to one percent
of the total annual salary of the office for which the candidate
announces;
(c) A candidate for member of the House of Delegates shall pay
a fee of one-half percent of the total annual salary of the office
and a candidate for State Senator shall pay a fee of one percent of
the total annual salary of the office;
(d) A candidate for sheriff, prosecuting attorney, circuit
clerk, county clerk, assessor, member of the county commission and
magistrate shall pay a fee equivalent to one percent of the annual
salary, excluding any additional compensation or commission of the
office for which the candidate announces. A candidate for county
board of education shall pay a fee of $25. A candidate for any
other county office shall pay a fee of $10;
(e) Delegates to the national convention of any political
party shall pay the following filing fees:
A candidate for delegate-at-large shall pay a fee of $20; and
a candidate for delegate from a congressional district shall pay a
fee of $10;
(f) Candidates for members of political executive committees
and other political committees shall pay the following filing fees:
A candidate for member of a state executive committee of any
political party shall pay a fee of $20; a candidate for member of
a county executive committee of any political party shall pay a fee
of $10; and a candidate for member of a congressional, senatorial
or delegate district committee of any political party shall pay a
fee of $5.
Candidates filing for an office to be filled by the voters of
one county shall pay the filing fee to the clerk of the county
commission and candidates filing for an office to be filled by the
voters of more than one county shall pay the filing fee to the
Secretary of State at the time of filing their certificates of
announcement and no certificate of announcement shall be received
until the filing fee is paid.
All moneys received by the clerk from the fees shall be
credited to the general county fund. Moneys received by the
Secretary of State from fees paid by candidates for offices to be
filled by all the voters of the state shall be deposited in a
special fund for that purpose and shall be apportioned and paid by
him or her to the several counties on the basis of population and
that received from candidates from a district or judicial circuit
of more than one county shall be apportioned to the counties comprising the district or judicial circuit in like manner. When
such moneys are received by sheriffs, it shall be credited to the
general county fund.
ARTICLE 6. CONDUCT AND ADMINISTRATION OF ELECTIONS.
§3-6-4a. Filing requirements for write-in candidates.
Any eligible person who seeks to be elected by write-in votes
to an office, except delegate to national convention, which is to
be filled in a primary, general or special election held under the
provisions of this chapter, shall file a write-in candidate's
certificate of announcement as provided in this section. No
certificate of announcement may be accepted and no person may be
certified as a write-in candidate for a political party nomination
for any office or for election as delegate to national convention.
(a) The write-in candidate's certificate of announcement shall
be in a form prescribed by the Secretary of State on which the
candidate shall make a sworn statement before a notary public or
other officer authorized to give oaths containing the following
information:
(1) The name of the office sought and the district and
division, if any;
(2) The legal name of the candidate and the first and last
name by which the candidate may be identified in seeking the
office;
(3) The specific address designating the location at which the
candidate resides at the time of filing, including number and
street or rural route and box number and city, state and zip code;
(4) A statement that the person filing the certificate of
announcement is a candidate for the office in good faith;
and
(5) The words "subscribed and sworn to before me this ______
day of _____________, ____" and a space for the signature of the
officer giving the oath;
and
(6) A filing fee in the amount required by the provisions of
section eight, article five of this chapter for the particular
office sought by the write-in candidate. All fees collected from
write-in candidates shall be distributed in the same manner as
provided by the provisions of section eight, article five of this
chapter.
(b) The certificate of announcement shall be filed with the
filing officer for the political division of the office as
prescribed in section seven, article five of this chapter.
(c) The certificate of announcement shall be filed with and
received by the proper filing officer as follows:
(1) Except as provided in subdivisions (2) and (3) of this
subsection, the certificate of announcement for any office shall be
received no later than the close of business on the forty-second
day before the election at which the office is to be filled;
(2) When a vacancy occurs in the nomination of candidates for
an office on the ballot resulting from the death of the nominee or
from the disqualification or removal of a nominee from the ballot
by a court of competent jurisdiction not earlier than the
twenty-first day nor later than the fifth day before the general
election, the certificate shall be received no later than the close of business on the fifth day before the election or the close of
business on the day following the occurrence of the vacancy,
whichever is later;
(3) When a vacancy occurs in an elective office which would
not otherwise appear on the ballot in the election, but which
creates an unexpired term of one or more years which, according to
the provisions of this chapter, is to be filled by election in the
next ensuing election and the vacancy occurs no earlier than the
twenty-first day and no later than the fifth day before the general
election, the certificate shall be received no later than the close
of business on the fifth day before the election or the close of
business on the day following the occurrence of the vacancy,
whichever is later.
(d) Any eligible person who files a completed write-in
candidate's certificate of announcement with the proper filing
officer within the required time shall be certified by that filing
officer as an official write-in candidate:
(1) The Secretary of State shall, immediately following the
filing deadline, post the names of all official write-in candidates
for offices on the ballot in more than one county and certify the
name of each official write-in candidate to the clerks of the
county commissions of the appropriate counties.
(2) The clerk of the county commission shall, immediately
following the filing deadline, post the names of all official
write-in candidates for offices on the ballot in one county and
certify and deliver to the election officials of the appropriate precincts, the names of all official write-in candidates and the
office sought by each for statewide, district and county offices on
the ballot in the precinct for which valid write-in votes will be
counted and the names shall be posted at the office where absentee
voting is conducted and at the precincts in accordance with section
twenty, article one of this chapter.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require write-in
candidates for public office to pay a filing fee for the office
sought and to provide for distribution of the fee in the same
manner as other candidates.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.