On August 12, a West Virginia state court heard arguments in a case over whether independent candidate Erik Wells can be an independent candidate for County Clerk of Kanawha County. See this story. Wells is a registered Democrat. There is no law in West Virginia saying only independent voters may run as independent candidates. But persons attempting to keep Wells off the ballot still maintain that he can’t be an independent.

Wells’ opponents also say that only independent voters can sign for an independent candidate, but, again, there is no such law. Wells’ opponents seem to think that an independent candidate is the same as a member of a political party, and that the group of independent voters should be treated as a political party.