Senate Bill No. 656
(By Senators Jenkins and Chafin)
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[Introduced February 19, 2007; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §3-1-17 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to election of Supreme Court of
Appeals justices; circuit judges; county and district
officers; and magistrates.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §3-1-17 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS.
§3-1-17. Election of circuit judges; county and district officers;
magistrates.
There shall be elected, at the general election to be held in
the year one thousand nine hundred ninety-two, and in every eighth
year thereafter after that, one judge of the circuit court of every
judicial circuit entitled to but one judge, and one judge for each
numbered division of the judicial circuit in those judicial circuits entitled to two or more circuit judges; and at the general
election to be held in the year one thousand nine hundred
ninety-two, and in every fourth year thereafter after that, a
sheriff, prosecuting attorney, surveyor of lands, and the number of
assessors prescribed by law for the county, and the number of
magistrates prescribed by law for the county; and at the general
election to be held in the year one thousand nine hundred ninety,
and in every second year thereafter after that, a commissioner of
the county commission for each county; and at the general election
to be held in the year one thousand nine hundred ninety-two, and
in every sixth year thereafter after that, a clerk of the county
commission and a clerk of the circuit court for each county.
(b) Beginning with the primary and general elections to be
conducted in the year two thousand eight and each year after that,
there shall be, for election purposes, numbered divisions
corresponding to the number of Justices of the Supreme Court of
Appeals to be elected. Each justice shall be elected at large from
the entire state for a term of twelve years pursuant to article
eight, section two of the West Virginia Constitution. In each
numbered division, the candidates for nomination or election shall
be voted upon and the votes cast for the candidates in each
division shall be tallied separately from the votes cast in the
other numbered divisions. The candidate receiving the highest
number of the votes cast within a numbered division shall be either nominated or elected, as the case may be.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that Justices of
the Supreme Court of Appeals are to be elected from numbered
divisions. Candidates from each numbered division are to be voted
on at large from the entire state.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.