West Virginia Citizens for Clean Elections (WVCCE) is a coalition of organizations focused on election administration and campaign finance in West Virginia. WVCCE has advocated for various positions in judicial elections, for increased voter registration, and against the U.S. Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. FEC. The group’s coordinator is Julie Archer, who is involved in other left-leaning West Virginia-based groups such as WV Citizen Action Group and the WV Environmental Council. ¹

Background

West Virginia Citizens for Clean Elections is a nonprofit that focuses on West Virginia elections and election reform. The organization advocates for various positions in judicial elections, increased voter registration, and opposing the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC. The organization claims to be a coalition of 25 organizations, “ranging from environmental organizations, labor unions, and more.” ² In June 2021, the organization held a virtual town hall with West Virginia labor union West Virginia AFL-CIO related to supposed “state attacks on judicial independence.” ³

In January 2022, the organization sent direct mail to 20,000 people in that state telling them their names had been removed from voter rolls and provided information on how to register to vote to individuals that the organization claimed “remain[ed] eligible to vote.” ⁴

In a 2016 press release, the group was critical of “outside money” being spent on West Virginia elections. ⁵ Outside spending appears to mean any expenditures not by the candidate themselves. The press release claims this spending is fueled by the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC, which the organization criticized as “expanding the role of corporate money in elections” and a decision that “makes a bad campaign system even worse.” ⁶

Affiliated Organizations

West Virginia Citizens for Clean Elections is a member of the Declaration for American Democracy, a coalition of left-leaning activist groups that advocates for a series of governmental and electoral administration policy changes. The coalition supports proposed legislation that would enact several left-leaning policy priorities surrounding elections including enacting automatic voter registration and placing restrictive regulations on political campaign-related speech acts. The organization is a project of Public Citizen Foundation, a left-of-center advocacy group founded by Ralph Nader. ⁷

Declaration for American Democracy advocates for bills in Congress and publicly promotes the need for left-of-center campaign and electoral administration policies. In May 2020, the organization sent an open letter to all 2020 Presidential candidates urging them to adopt the coalition’s positions as part of their campaign platform and as policy priorities if elected. The coalition also launched a presidential candidate tracker to assess where each candidate stood on over 90 policy issues. ⁸ Left-wing Democratic primary candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was listed as in support of the most of the policy positions on the Declaration for American Democracy’s platform. ⁹

People

Julie Archer is listed as the “Coordinator” of WV Citizens for Clean Elections. ¹⁰ She is also the project manager and lead lobbyist for WV Citizen Action Group. ¹¹ She is a member of the board of directors for WV Environmental Council and WV FREE, which is a community organizing group advocating for abortion access. ¹² She is also an author for West Virginia Surface Owners’ Rights Organization. ¹³

1. “WVCCE Launches Campaign to Inform West Virginians That They May Have Been Removed from the Voter Rolls.” WV Citizens For Clean Elections. January 27, 2022. Accessed March 4, 2023. https://wvoter-owned.org/wvcce-launches-campaign-to-inform-west-virginians-that-they-may-have-been-removed-from-the-voter-rolls/.
2. “WVCCE Launches Campaign to Inform West Virginians That They May Have Been Removed from the Voter Rolls.” WV Citizens For Clean Elections. January 27, 2022. Accessed March 4, 2023. https://wvoter-owned.org/wvcce-launches-campaign-to-inform-west-virginians-that-they-may-have-been-removed-from-the-voter-rolls/.
3. “Virtual Town Hall on Protecting Our Courts and the Freedom to Vote.” WV Citizens For Clean Elections. June 21, 2021. Accessed March 4, 2023. https://wvoter-owned.org/virtual-town-hall-on-protecting-our-courts-and-the-freedom-to-vote/.
4. ^[1] “WVCCE Launches Campaign to Inform West Virginians That They May Have Been Removed from the Voter Rolls.” WV Citizens For Clean Elections. January 27, 2022. Accessed March 4, 2023. https://wvoter-owned.org/wvcce-launches-campaign-to-inform-west-virginians-that-they-may-have-been-removed-from-the-voter-rolls/.
5. “Outside groups spend more than $15 million on W.Va. elections.” WV Citizens For Clean Elections. October 28, 2016. Accessed March 4, 2023. https://wvoter-owned.org/outside-spending-wva-elections/
6.  “U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Campaign Finance Laws: Citizens United Decision Could Unleash Flood of Money in Federal and State Elections.” WV Citizens For Clean Elections. January 21, 2010. Accessed March 4, 2023. https://wvoter-owned.org/u-s-supreme-court-strikes-down-campaign-finance-laws-citizens-united-decision-could-unleash-flood-of-money-in-federal-and-state-elections/
7. “About.” Declaration for American Democracy. Accessed March 4, 2023. https://declarationforamericandemocracy.org/about/
8. “The Positions.” Democracy Platform 2020. Accessed March 4, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20200926055422/https://democracyplatform2020.org/the-positions/
9. “The Positions.” Democracy Platform 2020. Accessed March 4, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20200926055422/https://democracyplatform2020.org/the-positions/
10. “About Citizens for Clean Elections.” WV Citizens For Clean Elections. Accessed March 4, 2023. https://wvoter-owned.org/about/.
11. “Contact WV CAG, Our Staff, Julie Archer.” WV Citizen Action Group, July 8, 2022. Accessed March 4, 2023. https://wvcag.org/contact/.
12. “About Us.” WV FREE, August 3, 2021. Accessed March 4, 2023. https://www.wvfree.org/about-us/.
13. Archer, Julie. “Julie Archer, Author at WV Surface Owners’ Rights Organization.” WV Surface Owners’ Rights Organization, May 24, 2017. Accessed March 4, 2023. https://wvsoro.org/author/julie/.