CHARLESTON – West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner has said he plans to enforce a state law that bans anonymous campaign mailers, despite the fact that state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has called the law unconstitutional.
Warner said he plans to enforce all election laws made by the Legislature, including this law, which attempts to end anonymous political attack ads.
“Secretary Warner is committed to enforcing all election laws as directed by the West Virginia Legislature,” said Steven Allen Adams, a Warner spokesman, according to the Charleston Gazette-Mail. “Until the House of Delegates and the Senate amend the law through the legislative process, or the law is challenged in court and we’re directed otherwise by the judicial system, we will continue to recognize state law.”
Warner asked Morrisey last year to assess the constitutionality of the ban and whether or not it violated the First Amendment right to free speech. Morrisey’s office concluded it was unconstitutionally “over-broad” and unenforceable.
In December, The Brennan Center for Justice urged Warner to reject Morrisey’s opinion and argued that the law does not block anyone from speaking and only prevents them from speaking anonymously.
Warner had previously said he requested Morrisey’s opinion after receiving questions from residents asking if anonymous campaign pamphlets they had received were legal.
Daniel Weiner and Joanna Zdanys, attorneys at The Brennan Center for Justice, said in their letter to Warner that the state’s campaign transparency rules “plainly are constitutional” and they urged Warner to continue to enforce them to the fullest extent possible.