Kanawha County Clerk Vera McCormick is raising several issues about Erik Wells' effort to oppose her in the general election, including questioning whether he can run as independent candidate while registered as a Democrat.
In a letter to Secretary of State Natalie Tennant dated Friday, McCormick raises six questions about whether Wells can be certified on the Nov. 8 ballot as an independent candidate for county clerk.
Those include questions about whether Wells can run as an independent while registered as a Democrat, and whether persons with major party affiliations could sign Wells' nominating petition.
Wells, a former state senator, announced he was running for county clerk July 7, saying he wanted to assure that voters would have a choice in a county clerk election in which McCormick would otherwise be unopposed.
He also raised issues with confusion over the May primary elections resulting in a number of residents voting in the wrong delegate districts, and with McCormick's objections to implementation of a new statewide online voter registration system.
"When you go to vote, your vote should matter in the district where you live," Wells said at the time.
Wells formally filed as a candidate on July 18, submitting a nominating petition with about 1,000 signatures, or about 400 more than needed to represent the 1 percent of the votes cast in the previous county clerk's election, as required by law.
In the letter, McCormick raises questions about whether the nominating process for candidates with no party affiliation is available, under state election law, to candidates affiliated with a political party, and whether signatures of voters registered with a political party can be counted toward the number of voters needed to be certified as a candidate.
"I look forward to your response as the certification date for the general election ballot is quickly approaching," McCormick states in the letter to Tennant.
Briana Wilson, spokeswoman for the secretary of state, did not have an immediate response to the letter, except to say, "We cannot comment on election complaints."
She added that the office received the letter shortly before the end of the workday Friday, and staff had not had an opportunity to review it.
Complicating matters is that Wells is married to Tennant, and in 2014, McCormick filed an election law complaint against Tennant for allegedly staging a brief campaign rally outside of the county Voter Registration office prior to early voting in that election. To date, there has been no formal resolution of that complaint.
Wells could not be reached for comment Friday.
Reach Phil Kabler at philk@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1220 or follow @philkabler on Twitter.