West Virginia Bill to Require Independent Candidates to File a Declaration of Candidacy in January

Posted on by February 21, 2025

Seven West Virginia Republican Delegates have introduced HB 2608. It requires independent candidates to file a declaration of candidacy by the second Monday in January of an election year. The sponsors are Rick Hillenbrand, Bill Ridenour, Charles Sheedy, Eric Brooks, Joe Funkhouser, Lisa White, and Margitta Mozzoocchi.

A similar West Virginia law was struck down in 2016 in Daly v Tennant, 216 F Supp 3d 699 (s.d.). The state did not appeal. Also, the Fourth Circuit struck down a similar South Carolina in 1990, in Cromer v State, 917 F 2d 810, and West Virginia is in the Fourth Circuit. Thanks to Jeff Becker for news about the bill.

Comments

West Virginia Bill to Require Independent Candidates to File a Declaration of Candidacy in January — 22 Comments

  1. anti-democracy minority rule gerrymanders in VA since 1618 – 407 years ago

    it shows nonstop
    —

    pr in all regimes.

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  12. Thanks, Richard. I just sent emails to these delegates with your information and cc’d you in case they might want to contact you for further discussion. What amazes me is that there is a legal staff in Charleston which is tasked with reviewing ALL proposed legislation prior to assigning bill numbers and actually allowing them to be introduced. Furthermore, the various committees allegedly have legal teams. I don’t know from which cereal boxes they’re getting their JDs, but it ain’t working like it’s supposed to.

  15. @Jeff Becker,

    I doubt it is the responsibility of legislative staff to review constitutionality of a statute, particularly in the case where it is obscure.

    In the case of Daly v. Tennant, a West Virginia court had changed the interpretation of a West Virginia statute, and the SOS had attempted to retroactively apply it to already qualified candidates. The SOS was proposing to put stickers over the names of those candidates.

  17. @Jim, I sort of recall that now. Doesn’t surprise me. In 2014, Natalie Tennant, while still in office as SOS, was running for US Senate and was electioneering right on the steps of a Kanawha County (Charleston) polling location. I remember that well because Phil Hudok was the Constitution Party’s US Senate candidate and filed a formal complaint with her office which, obviously, went nowhere. “Rules for thee, but not for me.”

  19. @Jeff Becker,

    Tennant v. Jefferson County Commission is one of my favorite redistricting decisions. I don’t think it had anything to do with Tennant personally. She was SOS when the plaintiffs had secured an injunction against her administering congressional elections using the three congressional districts that the legislature had created. Jefferson County did not like the three districts stretching across the state. The eastern panhandle was in a district with Charleston (Kanawha County).

    I read the synopsis of Daly v. Tennant. HB 2010 passed by the 2015 West Virginia legislature was intended to reform judicial elections, making them nonpartisan without a primary. §3-5-7(c) was amended to make the declaration of judicial candidates in May. A West Virginia court had then interpreted that the January declaration date applied to all other candidates – though it was probably intended for primary candidates only.

    The West Virginia court had ruled that an independent candidate should have made a declaration of candidacy in January, even though they had filed a petition in August. It was probably not unreasonable for the SOS to attempt to apply the rule universally. I don’t think Tennant has any legal background, so she would have relying on legal staff. The federal court could have ruled on equal protection grounds, and did not have to consider whether a January declaration of candidacy was constitutional.

  21. @Jim,
    Natalie Tennant was just a pretty face on the evening TV news and the state’s first female WVU Mountaineers mascot. Interesting that you bring up 2015’s HB 2010 on switching to non-partisan judicial elections because now our new State Senator from the eastern panhandle, Tom Willis, wants to go back to the way they were with primaries. I am incredibly less than impressed by our elected public servants.

    SB 521 – Requiring party affiliations be listed for all candidates
    By Senator Willis

    https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=sb521%20intr.htm&yr=2025&sesstype=RS&i=521

    “relating to electoral reforms of the West Virginia judiciary and boards of education generally; requiring the election of justices of the Supreme Court of Appeals, circuit court judges, family court judges, magistrates, and members of boards of education be on a partisan basis;”

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