Virginia State Board of Elections hears first campaign finance penalty appeals; mixed relief granted, some matters continued

RICHMOND, Va. — The Virginia State Board of Elections spent the bulk of its Nov. 17 meeting hearing the first round of appeals under a new law that lets candidates and committees ask the board to waive or reduce campaign finance penalties.

Board counsel and agency staff framed the hearing as the result of legislation passed during the 2025 General Assembly; Emily Manarski of the campaign finance team briefed the board on procedures and the standard of "good cause" the board must apply when deciding whether to give relief. "The board has discretion if good cause is found," staff said in opening remarks.

Petitioners described a range of reasons for their late or missing filings: travel-related technical failures, health crises, misunderstandings about reporting rules and bookkeeping errors by third-party vendors. Philip Scott, who faced a state-assessed $1,000 penalty after missing a July 15 deadline, testified that a delayed flight and inability to connect to Wi-Fi prevented an on-time filing: "I had the information with me... I tried using my hotspot. My computer wasn't connecting with the airport Wi‑Fi," Scott said, asking the board to dismiss the penalty. The board noted prior late filings and voted to dismiss Scott's petition, thereby upholding the assessed penalty.

Other petitioners received…