SB851 amends West Virginia Code §3-6-4a to add an explicit filing-fee requirement for persons who file as write-in candidates for offices filled at primary, general, or special elections. The bill keeps existing filing deadlines and the current exclusions for party nominations and delegates to national conventions, and it adds a statutory in forma pauperis exemption that ties waiver eligibility to existing assistance standards and resource limits.
This change converts a previously administrative practice into an explicit statutory obligation and shifts an immediate cash/administrative step onto write-in candidates and filing officers. For election administrators, the bill clarifies certification mechanics; for prospective candidates it creates a financial threshold that may deter late or frivolous filings while preserving a limited path for indigent filers to proceed without payment.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill requires declared write-in candidates to pay the filing fee required for the office at the moment they present their write-in certificate of announcement to the filing officer. It preserves the existing filing deadlines (49 days before the election, with a five-day vacancy exception) and retains the requirement that write-ins use a sworn certificate form.
Who It Affects
Prospective write-in candidates for statewide, district, county, and precinct offices; local filing officers and county clerks who accept certificates and process fees; and the Secretary of State, which must post certified official write-in names for multi-county offices.
Why It Matters
The statute turns an administrative gate into a statutory one: counties and the state get clearer authority to certify only those write-ins that both file the sworn certificate and pay the fee (unless waived). That reduces ambiguity for election officials but raises access questions for low-income candidates and for last-minute filings triggered by late vacancies.
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What This Bill Actually Does
Section 3-6-4a already requires a sworn certificate of announcement for anyone who seeks election by write-in vote and lists the information the candidate must provide (office sought, legal name, residence, and oath). SB851 leaves that structure intact but adds a specific payment obligation: a declared write-in candidate must pay whatever filing fee is required for the office when they submit the certificate to the filing officer.
The bill also embeds a waiver mechanism: a person may submit an affidavit requesting to file in forma pauperis and then is exempt from the filing fee. The bill defines pauper by reference to assistance standards — income and resource thresholds used for public assistance — and by a maximum available-resources test that tracks existing eligibility caps.
The text does not set a separate dollar threshold in the election statute; instead it points filing officers toward existing assistance rules to determine waiver eligibility.Procedurally, SB851 keeps the existing timing rules for write-in filings: certificates must generally be filed by the close of business 49 days before the election, with a shorter special window for vacancies that arise between 48 and five days before the general election (the certificate may be filed by the close of business on the fifth day before the election or the day after the vacancy, whichever is later). Once a candidate has filed a completed certificate and satisfied the fee or obtained a waiver, the filing officer must certify the person as an official write-in candidate.
The Secretary of State and county clerks have explicit posting and certification duties to publish official write-in names to counties, clerks, and precincts so election officials know which write-in votes to count.In short, the bill ties the administrative act of making a write-in candidacy 'official' to a contemporaneous fee payment (subject to waiver) and clarifies who must post and receive the list of official write-ins after the filing deadline, while preserving the statute's existing content and timing rules for certificates of announcement.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill inserts a requirement that declared write-in candidates pay the filing fee required for the office at the time they present their certificate of announcement to the filing officer.
It creates an in forma pauperis exemption: a person whose income and available resources meet public-assistance standards and resource caps may file without paying the fee by signing an affidavit.
Standard filing deadlines remain: certificates generally must be received by the close of business 49 days before the election; a separate five-day rule applies when a nominee vacancy arises between 48 and five days before the general election.
Filing officers must certify any eligible person who files a completed certificate and pays or is waived the fee; the Secretary of State must post official write-in names for multi-county offices and county clerks must post and deliver names for single-county precincts.
The statutory exclusions remain: the rule does not permit certification of write-in candidates for party nominations or for delegates to national conventions.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Scope of write‑in certificate and permitted offices
This subsection continues to prescribe the content and sworn nature of the write‑in candidate's certificate: office, legal name, residence, and a notarized oath. Practically, it preserves the paperwork standard election officials must receive before any candidacy is considered. The provision also keeps the exclusion that prohibits certification of write‑in candidates for party nominations and for national convention delegates, so the fee requirement the bill adds later does not expand the set of offices eligible for write‑in certification.
Where to file the certificate
Subsection (b) reaffirms that the certificate must be filed with the filing officer for the political division where the office is located (as cross‑referenced to section seven, article five). That matters because the fee collection and waiver determination occur at the level of the filing officer; local practice and the clerk's office are therefore central to operationalizing the bill’s fee and waiver mechanics.
Filing deadlines and vacancy exception
The statute retains the principal deadline (close of business on day 49 before the election) and preserves the vacancy exception that shortens the window when a ballot vacancy occurs between 48 and 5 days before the election. Administratively, those timing rules interact with the fee requirement: county filing officers must collect fees or accept an in forma pauperis affidavit within those same windows, which creates a compressed workflow when vacancies trigger the short filing period.
New fee requirement and poverty waiver
This is the bill’s operative change: it adds a clause requiring payment of the filing fee at the time the certificate is presented. It also supplies an explicit fee waiver path for filers who sign an affidavit requesting to file in forma pauperis and who meet assistance‑standard income and resource tests. The provision does not set a numeric threshold in the election code; it imports existing assistance criteria and the maximum resource cap used by benefit programs, which places the administrative burden on filing officers to apply non‑election eligibility rules.
Certification and public posting of official write‑ins
Subsection (d) spells out the consequences of filing and fee compliance: once a certificate is complete and the fee paid or waived, the filing officer must certify the person as an official write‑in candidate. The Secretary of State must post names for offices that appear in more than one county and convey certified names to county clerks; county clerks must post names and deliver them to precinct election officials and absentee voting locations. That clarifies which write‑in votes election officials should count and creates a formal public record of who is an 'official' write‑in.
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Explore Elections in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Local election administrators: the statute gives filing officers a clear statutory basis to require fee payment or a waiver affidavit before certifying a write‑in, reducing ad hoc decisionmaking and potential disputes about which write‑ins to count.
- Secretary of State and county clerks: explicit posting and certification duties standardize procedures across jurisdictions and provide a single authoritative list of official write‑ins for multi‑county and single‑county offices.
- Voters seeking clarity: by making write‑in certification and posting mandatory, the bill helps voters and poll workers know which write‑in names will be counted, reducing confusion at the ballot box.
- Indigent prospective candidates: the in forma pauperis waiver preserves a pathway for low‑income individuals to run without paying a fee, protecting a degree of ballot access for those who cannot pay.
Who Bears the Cost
- Prospective write‑in candidates who are not indigent: they must pay the filing fee up front, creating a financial hurdle that did not previously appear explicitly in statute.
- County filing officers and clerks: they must verify waiver affidavits against assistance standards and process fee collection and remittance, increasing administrative workload and potential for inconsistent application across counties.
- Small or understaffed election offices: the vacancy exception’s compressed timeline combined with fee collection and waiver processing can stress local offices during a short window, possibly requiring overtime or procedural changes.
- Potential challengers and courts: disputes over waiver eligibility, fee amounts, or certification decisions could generate litigation, imposing costs on the judicial system and the parties involved.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central trade‑off is between administrative order and ballot access: requiring fees and an upfront certification narrows frivolous or purely symbolic write‑ins and gives election officials a clear list to count, but it also places a financial and procedural barrier in front of grassroots or low‑income candidates and forces local officials to apply non‑election benefit standards to determine who can run without payment.
The bill resolves one procedural ambiguity by making fee payment an explicit precondition to certification, but it leaves several implementation details undefined. It imports public‑assistance eligibility and resource caps to define who qualifies as a pauper without specifying which program’s rules take precedence or how to reconcile differing standards across federal and state benefit programs.
That creates room for inconsistent local application and potential appeals when filing officers deny waivers.
Another unresolved implementation challenge concerns timing and late vacancies. The text requires fee payment 'at the time' of filing, but when a vacancy triggers the short five‑day window, counties may have limited opportunities to verify waiver affidavits or process fees before certification deadlines.
The statute also does not spell out whether fee amounts mirror the same statutory schedule used for regular candidates (though it references 'filing fees that are required for the office'), nor does it address refunds, fee remittance procedures, or recordkeeping standards — all practical matters counties will need to set by policy or administrative rule. Finally, tying legal qualification for having one's write‑in counted to an upfront administrative step risks disenfranchising voters whose intended write‑ins fail a post‑election procedural test; the bill relies on pre‑election certification to limit that risk, but tight timelines and uneven waiver processing could still cause selective exclusions.
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