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Committee advances ‘Equal Access to the Ballot’ bill after debates over electronic filing, fail-safes and deadlines
Summary
The Judiciary Committee voted 19–1 to report S.B. 2, which requires electronic filing and verification of candidates’ statements of economic interest, adds an affirmation/receipt process and allows limited curing of defects; senators pressed for amendments addressing outages, attachments and candidate definitions.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to send S.B. 2, the Equal Access to the Ballot Act, to the full Senate after extended debate and multiple technical amendments. The committee recorded a favorable report of 19 to 1.
Sponsor comments and the subcommittee report explained the bill’s primary aim: prevent last-cycle ballot removals caused by technical filing errors by requiring an electronic statement of economic interest (SEI) and by directing receiving officials to verify electronic filing before accepting a statement of intention of candidacy. The bill would provide a written affirmation/receipt to candidates and party officials and create a short cure period for technical defects rather than immediate disqualification.
Committee members raised several operational questions. Senators warned that website outages or power failures could leave a candidate unable to obtain an electronic receipt before a deadline; one senator proposed, and the sponsor agreed to craft, a fail-safe allowing a temporary paper filing with a requirement to correct the electronic filing within a short time. State election staff reported the current SEI system does not accept uploaded attachments (for example, leases referenced on the SEI) and said hard copies are mailed when necessary; senators urged clearer instructions on the filing form and a public posting on the state election commission website.
Other issues included the filing window and whether moving to county election commission headquarters for filings (as proposed in a Lexington perfecting amendment) would impose operational burdens on county offices; the committee approved language that designates county election commission headquarters as a filing location while permitting party representatives to accept filings there. The sponsor also moved to change proposed fine language to an administrative amount rather than an open-ended penalty and said she would work between committee and floor on precise wording.
On the statutory definitions, senators debated when a person becomes a candidate (petition/write-in vs. party nominee) and whether the bill’s language could be interpreted to require early filings by individuals who simply begin campaigning. The sponsor said the statutory definition in current law has been construed to apply chiefly to petition or write-in candidates and agreed to work on clarifying language before the floor.
After discussion and a perfecting amendment that addresses filing locations, the committee adopted the subcommittee report as perfected and reported S.B. 2 favorably to the Senate by roll call (19–1). The bill will move to the Senate calendar; committee staff and the sponsor said they will continue to refine technical language before floor debate.
