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Judiciary panel advances "equal access to the ballot" bill to require electronic ethics filings and add verification and cure procedures
Summary
Committee approved amendments to require electronic filing of statements of economic interest before a statement of intention of candidacy is accepted, to add a receipting/affirmation process and a short cure period for defects; committee reported the bill to the floor with a favorable recommendation, 19–1.
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday approved an amendment to what supporters called the "equal access to the ballot" act to require candidates and incumbents to file statements of economic interest (SEI) electronically and to add a verification and cure process intended to prevent candidates from being removed from the ballot over technical filing errors.
The sponsor told the committee the change was designed to ensure incumbents and challengers are treated the same after more than 250 candidates were removed from ballots the previous cycle for paperwork errors. "What this bill... does effectively accomplish is make sure that candidates who are public officials and candidates who are not public officials are treated the same," the sponsor said, describing a required affirmation or receipt that party officials would use to verify SEI filings.
Several senators raised operational concerns. One asked what would happen if the election-commission website crashed or power was lost at the filing deadline; the sponsor agreed to work on an amendment to create a fail-safe and to consider an administrative fine of a fixed amount rather than a variable criminal penalty. Committee members also discussed whether the county election commission or party officials should be the filing point; a perfecting amendment placed filings at county election commission headquarters with party representatives authorized to accept filings there.
Committee staff and an official identified in the hearing as Mr. Hayden explained the state SEI system currently does not accept attached documents (for example, a scanned lease) and that candidates would be expected to reference required attachments on the electronic form and submit hard copies by mail when necessary.
After debate and several unanimous-consent technical fixes, the committee voted 19–1 to report the amended bill to the Senate floor. Sponsors said they will continue to refine language ahead of floor debate, including clarifying terms such as "affirmation" and ensuring a narrow administrative fine in appropriate cases.
