The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has held that

Petitioner Brent D. Benjamin is a Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia and a candidate seeking re-election to the Court in the upcoming May 10, 2016, non-partisan election. Although Justice Benjamin began his election campaign as a “traditional candidate,” i.e., a candidate financed by contributions from supporters, he later made the decision to enter the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals Public Campaign Financing Program, W. Va. Code § 3-12-1 et seq., and filed his formal Declaration of Intent to do so on September 11, 2015. Thereafter, Justice Benjamin became a “participating candidate” under the Act.

On February 10, 2016, the West Virginia State Elections Commission (“the Commission”) certified Justice Benjamin’s campaign for public funding under the Act, overruling a number of challenges filed by Respondent Elizabeth D. Walker, a traditional candidate also seeking election to the Court.

Pursuant to the West Virginia Administrative Procedures Act, W. Va. Code § 29A-5-1 et seq., Respondent Walker appealed the Commission’s decision to the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, which ruled in favor of Walker on all issues and held that “[t]he SEC’s certification of Justice Benjamin was clearly erroneous and must be REVERSED because it directly violated Walker’s constitutional rights to free speech and substantive due process under the First and Fourteenth Amendments of  the United States Constitution.” This appeal followed.

 After thorough review of the record Appendix, the parties’ briefs and oral arguments, and the applicable law, we reverse the judgment of the court below and reinstate the decision of the Commission certifying Justice Benjamin.

The court

 In this case, Justice Benjamin submitted documentation evidencing 192 electronic qualifying contributions made to his campaign, such documentation containing unique transaction identifiers tracing back to the respective contributors and satisfying the definition of an electronic signature contained in W. Va. Code §39A-1-2(8). Thus, the Commission correctly concluded that the Benjamin campaign had obtained the requisite number of qualifying contributions and otherwise satisfied all statutory requirements to be certified for public funding under the Act.

 The court reached the same result with respect to another candidate. (Mike Frisch)