24.2. Summary. Ask Frank
Thousands find ways to do campaign paperwork correctly
Voter registrars call it 24.2. The last version I have is 2012. It has a red cover. They change the color of the cover every year so far as I know. I may have a blue one somewhere, but the one in the family room is red. In state code, 24.2 sits between “Title 23.1 Institutions of Higher Education; Other Educational and Cultural Institutions” and “Title 25.1 Eminent Domain.” It just says “Title 24.2 Elections.”
It has 10 chapters and 1,019 subsections, those weird little things that look like door knockers or something: §§. There might be 250 people in Virginia who have read the whole thing and understand it. Maybe 125 who aren’t registrars, but there are a thousand long-term political types who know their names.
“Let me ask Frank about that.”
“Deb was a treasurer; I’ll bet she knows.”
I bought a copy of 24.2 when I started getting those calls. Anybody can go to Lexis-Nexis and buy a copy. The question is why they would. Can’t they just call Frank?
Alternatively, can’t they look at the 50-page “Summary of Laws and Policies, Candidate Campaign Committees”? Ever wonder whether you need a “Paid by” line on a pen or a lapel button? Probably not. On a yard sign? Many candidates, worried about colors and typefaces and whether to put their middle initial on the signs, forget that detail, and drive around when they should be knocking doors, instead putting “Paid by” stickers where they should have printed them to begin with.
I’ve sent the Summary to dozens of candidates over the years, telling them to flip through it to get an idea what’s in it and where to look things up. Some do. Many don’t. They call and ask me or Deb what to do or if something is legal. We tell them and then double-check the latest version of the Summary. The laws change every year. A registrar gave a patronizing chuckle when he found out my copy of 24.2, the red cover, was a dozen years out of date. The party in power in the General Assembly makes minor changes in ways to inconvenience the other party. They say it’s to improve accountability or make elections run smoother. Maybe it is.
And somehow, everyone manages to obey the law with minor hiccups and embarrassments. Two dozen or more congressional candidates have to deal with federal law, while candidates for local offices in those same years, hundreds of hopefuls for city councils, school boards, boards of supervisors, and constitutional offices all have to obey state laws while trying to coordinate with the federal candidates at the top of the ballot, the ones with all the money and attention. In odd years, just as many candidates have to deal with state law, with 24.2 and the Summary, but at least without the added hassle of coordinating with federal campaigns, but with trying to compete for attention for General Assembly campaigns, which normally have enough money to hire a compliance person.
Local campaign don’t have that person. Maybe Frank will know. Maybe Deb or Bill will be your treasurer and keep track of all that. Maybe somebody at the local party can help you.
And yet, somehow they manage to do it. A thousand or so people statewide in every two-year cycle, both parties and independents, running for ego or for service, single-issue or general philosophy, men and women, Valley and Tidewater, NOVA and SWVA, they all manage to do the paperwork and obey the rules. Sometimes they get it wrong and pay fines. But nobody I know of has racked up almost $10,000 in fines until this year. Maybe I missed one in the 40-plus years I’ve been involved as journalist, blogger, mayor, party official, and advisor. Somebody else who’s been covering Virginia politics for 40-plus years asked me if it was a record fine. He couldn’t remember one that big either.
All those people manage to get it right more than 95 percent of the time. Maybe there is something special about someone who can’t. Maybe there is something political or religious or philosophical or financial that makes him so superior to other candidates that he shouldn’t have to follow the earthly rules that everyone else works with.
And if you think that something special exists, vote to re-elect Matt Cross to the Rockingham County School Board. This is America for now, and you have that right. But when you touch the pen to the bubble on the ballot, remember that this candidate was not able to do something that a thousand other people manage to do several times a year during every election year. It’s not rocket science. It’s not even educational policy. It’s just paperwork. If you act like you know how to do it and you don’t, you’ll pay the piper, or the registrar. And your neighbors will be justified in asking what else you think you know that you really don’t.