On the evening of July 19, the West Virginia legislature passed HB 201, and Governor Joe Manchin has already signed it. The bill sets up procedures for a special election for U.S. Senate this November. The bill is ambiguous about independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties. It can be construed to mean than an independent, or the nominee of an unqualified party, may run if he or she pays a filing fee this week, and then submits a petition signed by 7,024 valid signatures by August 27. UDATE: the final version of the bill, which had not been available when this post was first written, shows that the signatures are due August 23.
If the new law is construed to mean that independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, must submit the petition by July 23, then it would be unconstitutional under Mathers v Morris, 649 F.2d 280, a 4th circuit opinion from 1981 that said when special elections are called with little notice, the normal deadline must be extended. West Virginia is in the 4th circuit.
In any event, the three qualified parties are free to nominate someone with no petition. The three qualified parties are the Democratic, Republican, and Mountain Parties (the Mountain Party is the West Virginia affiliate of the Green Party). The Mountain Party is free to hold a nominating convention or hold a primary, and the two major parties will nominate by primary held on August 28. The bill permits Republican Congressmember Shelley Capito to run simultaneously in November 2010, both for her U.S. House seat, and the U.S. Senate seat. UPDATE: the latest version of the bill, according to Jeff Becker, is not posted on the legislature’s web page. But it apparently says independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, need one-fourth of the usual number of signatures, which means they need 1,756 valid signatures. It is not clear what the deadline for those signatures is.
