WEST VIRGINIA CODE











‹ Back



 |   Print







WVC 3 - 5 - 8 A

§3-5-8a. Nominating petitions as alternatives to filing fees; oath

of impecuniosity required; petition in lieu of payment

of filing fee.

A candidate seeking nomination to any office who is unable to

pay the filing fee may qualify through the following petition

process in lieu of payment of the filing fee.

The candidate shall file an oath with the appropriate office

required under section eight of this article stating that he or she

is unable to pay the filing fee due to a lack of financial

resources. Such oath shall be filed not earlier than the second

Monday in January next preceding the primary election day.

Upon receipt of the written oath the receiving officer shall

provide the candidate with in-lieu-of-filing-fee petition forms and

instructions on gathering the required signatures. The number of

required signatures shall be four qualified voters for each whole

dollar of the filing fee: Provided, That the filing fee shall be

waived, in whole and not in part. Only signatures of voters

registered in the county, district or other political division

represented by the office sought may be solicited. Solicitors of

signatures shall also be residents of the county, district or other

geographical entity represented by the office sought: Provided,

however, That for offices to be filled by the voters of more than

one county, separate petition forms shall be used for the

signatures of qualified voters from each county.

No qualified voter forfeits his or her opportunity to vote in the primary election by signing an in-lieu-of-filing-fee petition.

The candidate may submit a greater number of signatures to

allow for subsequent losses due to invalidity of some signatures.

The clerk of the county commission may not be required to determine

the validity of a greater number of signatures than that required

by this section.

Signatures obtained on an in-lieu-of-filing-fee petition shall

not be counted toward the number of voters required to sign a

nomination certificate in accordance with section twenty-three of

this article.

The candidate shall file all in-lieu-of-filing-fee petitions

with the required number of valid signatures with the clerk of the

county commission or Secretary of State, as the case may be, not

later than the last date required by law for filing declarations of

candidacies and payment of the filing fee.

The oath and forms required by this section shall be

prescribed by the Secretary of State.





Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2015 Regular Session

The WV Code Online is an unofficial copy of the annotated WV Code, provided as a convenience. It has NOT been edited for publication, and is not in any way official or authoritative.