Ad urging write-in candidates questioned

The League of Women Voters has paid $500 of a $2,250 fine.

STAFF REPORT

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — The Lawrence County Board of Elections voted to notify the district attorney that the county League of Women Voters has not paid election violation fines.

The three-member board voted unanimously at its meeting Tuesday to turn the case back over to District Attorney John Bongivengo, who has told the league he believes violations occurred and he would prosecute if necessary.

The elections board had given the league a deadline of Aug. 1 to pay fines totaling $2,250 over two ads it ran in a local newspaper before the November 2007 election.

At issue is whether the league endorsed candidates when it urged voters in the ads to write in candidates for a commission that’s studying whether to change the county’s form of government.

The board says the league should have filed necessary paperwork to form a political action committee and needed to submit forms indicating the candidates had authorized the PAC to act on their behalf. The fine was a cumulation of filing fees and late fees for all the paperwork.

The board said the league paid $500 in filing and late fees for the PAC registration, along with a disclaimer noting it never intended to act as a PAC.

The league has maintained that its bylaws prohibit it from acting as a PAC.

The league also told the board last month through an attorney it does not believe it should owe any money for candidate authorization forms because the ads did not constitute endorsements.

The league maintains that it named seven candidates and called for writing in six of them. The ads never specified which six to choose.

The board believes naming the candidates constituted endorsements, however.

It said the league should pay the remaining $1,750 for the candidate authorization forms. The board is sending a letter to Bongivengo.