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CHARLESTON -- The State Election Commission approved four waivers Friday allowing two candidates and two political action committees to send in their campaign finance reports by paper.
While most state employees had the day off Friday, the Secretary of State's Elections Division was working, facilitating Friday's SEC meeting and standing by to answer questions from candidates using the online Campaign Finance Reporting System.
Bob Kiss, former speaker of the House of Delegates, asked for a waiver from filing online. Kiss's campaign has been inactive since 2007, but he is still required to file campaign finance reports because the account still has a balance. Shelby Ann Fitzhugh, a Republican precandidate for governor from Martinsburg, sent a handwritten letter asking for a waiver from the online filing requirements.
"I am unable to file electronically all the reports for candidacy for governor of West Virginia," Fitzhugh wrote. "I am requesting the use of paper documents to be filled out and returned to the Secretary of State's Office."
The PAC for the Lewis County Republican Executive Committee asked for a waiver due to no computer or internet access. Donna White, treasurer of the McDowell County Education Association PAC, said she doesn't have the means to file electronically.
"I presently do not have internet or a computer," White wrote. "Basically, we are a small PAC and I may issue three checks per whole election cycle. There is only $3,000 in the account, so the paperwork is minimal."
As of June 7, only candidates and PACs who file at the county and city level, as well as candidates for the Greater Huntington Park and Recreation District, are allowed to file paper campaign finance reports. However, state code does allow the SEC to waive the online requirement if the candidate or PAC can show hardship, such as no internet access.
According to the Secretary of State's Office, only seven waivers – including the ones granted Friday – have been issued by the SEC. Chuck Flannery, deputy secretary of state and chief of staff, said he didn't expect a large number of waivers going into the 2020 candidate filing period in January.
"This is the first go-through with it," Flannery said. "This should be the wave of folks who are having trouble. I don't suspect the next time we'll have more because people have already filed electronically."
Precandidates for 2020 and candidates who filed for office since 2010 have until midnight Monday to file online campaign finance reports. The Secretary of State's Office extended the filing period to Monday since the deadline fell on a Sunday.
The updated online system, first implemented in time for the 2018 midterm elections, only allows candidates since 2010 to file online.
"Candidates were already mandated to file electronically in previous elections," Flannery said. "It would be the same amount of volume we've seen before for this types of requests."
"I think from our standpoint once it gets to be a problem you guys can send up a flare," SEC Chairman Matthew Chapman said.