CHARLESTON, W.Va. — As major party secretary of state candidates Natalie Tennant and Mac Warner bickered over everything from automatic voter registration to ethics complaints to supervision of clean elections, Libertarian candidate John Buckley said Monday he was tempted to wear a referee’s jersey and throw penalty flags.
“I think there’s an awful lot of the voters out there who are sick and tired of the partisan bickering, and I think this job is tailor-made for someone from a different perspective than Republican or Democrat,” Buckley, a retired Hardy County lawyer, told Gazette-Mail editors and reporters.
Among the issues that incumbent Secretary of State Tennant and Republican challenger Warner disagreed on was open voter registration, which Warner denounced as an effort by billionaire George Soros to register as many people as possible, including “citizens, non-citizens, felons.”
“His intent is to have more voters for the Democratic Party,” Warner said.
Tennant was taken aback by Warner’s comments, stating, “You have a secretary of state candidate sitting up here trying to make excuses for why he doesn’t want to register people to vote.”
She said there are safeguards in place for on-line voter registration and automatic voter registration at Division of Motor Vehicles offices, including state law that makes it a crime of perjury to knowing provide false information on voter registration forms.
Buckley concurred, noting, “I think it is part of the function of the secretary of state to be a cheerleader for voter registration and voter turnout.”
Warner added, “I’m not against the online voter registration. I simply want them to do it properly.”
Warner also objected to the secretary of state’s office recently mailing postcards to residents who show up on the Electronic Registration Information Center, a nonprofit database operating in 21 states, as being eligible to vote but unregistered.
“That’s nothing but a pure attempt to draw people to a website that’s covered with Natalie Tennant’s name,” he said, contending that county clerks were not apprised of the mailing.
He also said he has heard complaints from people who received cards addressed to deceased family members.
She said the process is part of the automatic registration legislation passed by the Legislature in March, and conceded there have been instances where postcards were mailed to people who have died.
Tennant also was critical of Warner for campaigning on a “trinkets law” ethics complaint filed against her by Delegate Michel Moffatt, R-Putnam, for distribution of a pencil featuring her name at a local elementary school.
Warner said in media interviews that the Ethics Commission had found probable cause of a violation when in fact the commission’s Probable Cause Review Board dismissed the complaint Aug. 17, finding there was no intent to violate the new law barring public officials from using state-funded materials for self-promotion.
“I felt that this was a ‘gotcha’ type of complaint, when the delegate files a complaint and then runs to the media,” Tennant said. “I’m just thankful that we were given due process, and able to get the facts.”
Asked about possible changes in state election law, Warner said he would like to see stricter state disclosure requirements for “dark money” contributions to political action committees and independent expenditure groups. He said he also would favor raising the current $1,000 maximum contribution to candidates under state law, which he said makes it, “very difficult for challengers.”
Tennant said she would like to see legislation clarifying filing requirements and deadlines for independent and third party candidates, after the state Supreme Court declared several independent candidates — including her husband, Erik Wells — ineligible for the 2016 general election, a decision that was subsequently partially overturned in federal court.
Buckley, meanwhile, said he supports legislation that would make it easier for third parties to become recognized political parties in the state. He proposed expanding the current requirement of having a candidate for governor receive at least 1 percent of the general election vote to include all six statewide elective offices.
He said the current law “artificially drives” would-be political party organizations to place a candidate in the governor’s race when they might have better opportunities in the other statewide races.
“They lose the opportunity for four years to have the advantage of being a recognized political party,” he said.
Reach Phil Kabler at [email protected], 304-348-1220, or follow @PhilKabler on Twitter.
