According to the Virginia Department of Elections website, independent candidate Kenny Jackson reported his campaign finance activity from June 2 to June 30 more than a week late on Monday. However, in an interview Wednesday, Jackson said he turned the report in on time but couldn’t get a confirmation from local or state officials after he said it was submitted.

Jackson said he feels the Department of Elections and the city’s election office have failed to prove they can provide an adequate amount of support for independent candidates.

He said he first encountered problems with the local election office several months ago while seeking access to the roll of registered voters in the city. And then, after requesting last month to file all his paperwork electronically, he said he was unable to get assistance from state officials while finalizing his latest finance report.

 “I am not using this to make an excuse, for I am more than willing to stand and admit if I’m wrong,” he said in an email to The Daily Progress on Monday. “I do this so other candidates do not face the same problem and get shut out of the right to run for any office.”

Rosanna Bencoach, the city’s voter registrar, said that her department has worked hard to assist all of the independent candidates for City Council in this year’s election.

Bencoach said Jackson’s previous campaign reports seemed to show that Jackson was organizing his campaign and had appointed a campaign treasurer well before he filed his first Statement of Organization. Appointing a campaign treasurer would have required Jackson to file the document earlier in the year, she said.

According to state law, a Statement of Organization must be filed within 10 days of a candidate appointing a campaign treasurer.

The Daily Progress reported in February that Jackson, who ran for council as a Republican in 2004, announced on his Facebook account that he would be running as an independent candidate for City Council. Jackson held a public event at Tonsler Park in May to officially announce his candidacy.

Jackson said his first Statement of Organization included a few errors that have since been amended.

After telling Jackson it seemed as if his campaign needed to file paperwork earlier in the year, Bencoach said, the candidate and his treasurer started acting “rude” to her and her staff.

“He has been ugly to me and my staff. With all of the independent candidates, we’ve done all we can to be helpful to them,” she said. “It’s very upsetting.”

In an interview Wednesday, Jackson said he and his treasurer, Bemeche Hicks were offended earlier this year when they visited Bencoach at her office. Jackson said she showed them a photo of the first African-American to vote in Virginia.

“[City Councilor Wes] Bellamy or someone like that may have liked that, but we didn’t like it. It was distasteful and disrespectful,” Jackson said Wednesday. “I don’t like that woman. In my heart, I do not like her.”

In an email, Bencoach said what she showed them is a framed copy of an 1867 issue of the Philadelphia Inquirer that included a story about the first day black men could vote in Virginia.

The framed document has been in her office since she became the city’s registrar in 2015.

“It’s historic and inspirational,” she said. “I sometimes point it out to visitors who express an interest in voting rights or history, and the topic must have come up.”

After filing his previous campaign finance disclosures by paper, Jackson last month had the election office switch things around so that he could file his paperwork electronically. This month, he said he had trouble getting everything together online.

“You can’t understand the website, it’s not user-friendly. I have to put in all this information, and then you gotta push this and push that,” he said.

Jackson said he tried to contact state officials on July 17, the day the report was due.

“I’m calling, asking what do to next at 3:30 p.m.,” he said in an interview Wednesday. “They didn’t get back to me until last Friday. It didn’t get me any useful information. They’re supposed to be there for assistance. I guarantee you the two major parties don’t have this problem.”

According to emails that Bencoach shared with The Daily Progress, a state election official had contacted Jackson at 5 p.m. on July 21.

A series of back and forth messages reveal that Jackson was able to submit the report by Monday evening.

“I’m not asking for a break,” Jackson said.

“I just need to let this be known so other candidates don’t fall in this damn trap. And everyone in the registrar’s office needs to be more helpful,” he said. “It’s just me and my treasurer. And I have a right to run for office and represent my people – the middle class and the poor.”

Bencoach said all the other candidates, Democrats Amy Laufer and Heather Hill, and independents Cassie Clawson, Paul Long, John Hall and Nikuyah Walker, have all submitted their reports on time.

The last time candidates for City Council faced fines for campaign reporting issues were Republican Anson Parker, City Councilor Wes Bellamy and Mayor Mike Signer – the latter two are Democrats.

Similarly to Jackson, Parker was fined for missing a July 15 campaign finance report. At the time, Parker said he simply “forgot to hit submit.”

Bellamy and Signer, per state law, were assessed fines for not reporting donations of $500 or more within 24 hours two weeks before the Democratic Primary that year.

According to their finance reports in the period following the primary election, Bellamy received $500 in fines for five individual donations from local Democratic donor Roberta Williamson, developer Richard Hewitt and two businesses, New Airport Taxi LLC and the Charlottesville Parking Center. Two of those were $2,000, two were $1,250, the last was $500.

In the same reporting period, Signer was fined $300 for not immediately reporting $500 contributions from Williamson, University of Virginia lecturer Lucia Phinney and local realtor Rebecca Gentry.

According to reports available online, none of the candidates for council this year aside from Jackson received an individual contribution of more than $500 in the last reporting period. Jackson reported a $500 donation from physician Barbara Haskins.

The reports for Democratic candidates Hill and Laufer showed that City Councilor Kathy Galvin donated $125 to her two party colleagues.

“We need strong democrats, more women and level-headed leadership in politics today,” Galvin said in an email Tuesday. “When a candidate is all three, it’s a compelling choice.”

Before the Democratic Primary last month, Laufer and Hill reported approximately $23,000 and $24,000 in campaign contributions this year, respectively.

According to reports available online, the only other candidates who have raised more than $1,000 so far this year are Jackson and Walker, the latter of whom has raised approximately $4,200.

The general election will be held Nov. 7.