(b) The compensation of election officers, cost of printing ballots and all other reasonable and necessary expenses in holding and making the return of the new election provided in this section to fill a vacancy in the office of Governor are obligations of the state incurred by the ballot commissioners, clerks of the county commissions and county commissions of the various counties as agents of the state. All expenses of the new election are to be audited by the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State shall prepare and transmit to the county commissions forms on which the county commissions shall certify all expenses of the new election provided in this section to the Secretary of State. If satisfied that the expenses as certified by the county commissions are reasonable and were necessarily incurred, the Secretary of State shall requisition the necessary warrants from the Auditor of the state to be drawn on the State Treasurer and shall mail the warrants directly to the vendors of the new election services, supplies and facilities.
(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section to the contrary, for purposes of filling the vacancy that occurred in the office of Governor on November 15, 2010, a new election shall occur as follows:
(1) Upon the effective date of this subsection, the person acting as Governor pursuant to the state constitution shall immediately issue a proclamation calling for a special primary and general election as provided for in this subsection. For purposes of this subsection, the new elections so provided in the proclamation mean the special primary and general elections as set forth in this subsection.
(2) The special primary election shall be held on May 14, 2011 and the special general election shall be held on October 4, 2011.
(3) The proclamation for the special primary election and special general election shall be published prior to the special primary election and special general elections, respectively, as a Class II-0 legal advertisement in accordance with article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code and the publication area for the publication is each county of the state. The notice shall be filed with the Secretary of State who shall cause the document to be published within each county in accordance with this section.
(4) The provisions of this chapter apply to the special primary election and special general election to the extent that those provisions are consistent with the provisions of this section. Statutory time deadlines for the purpose of the new election provided in this subsection are modified as follows:
(A) A notarized declaration of candidacy and filing fee shall be filed and received in hand by the Secretary of State by 5:00 p.m. on the fifth calendar day following the proclamation of the special primary election. The declaration of candidacy may be filed in person, by United States mail, electronic means or any other means authorized by the Secretary of State;
(B) The Secretary of State may issue emergency administrative orders to undertake other ministerial actions that are otherwise authorized pursuant to this code when necessary to assure the preservation of the voting rights of the citizens of this state and avoid fraudulent voting and election activities and otherwise assure the orderly and efficient conduct of the new election provided in this subsection: Provided, That emergency administrative orders may not contravene the provisions of this section;
(C) For petition in lieu of payment of filing fees, a candidate seeking nomination for the vacancy in the office of Governor may utilize the process set forth in section eight-a, article five of this chapter: Provided, That the minimum number of signatures required is one thousand five hundred;
(D) Drawing for special primary election ballot position will take place at the Secretary of State's office twenty-four hours after the end of the filing period. For each major political party on the ballot, a single drawing by lot shall determine the candidate ballot position for ballots statewide. This drawing shall be witnessed by four clerks of the county commission chosen by the West Virginia Association of County Clerks, with no more than two clerks representing a single political party. Ballot position for the special general election shall be determined pursuant to subdivision (3), subsection (c), section two, article six of this chapter;
(E) A registered voter who has not reached eighteen years of age may vote in the May 14, 2011 special primary election: Provided, That the voter will attain eighteen years of age at the time of the special general election provided in this subsection;
(F) When paper or optical scan ballots are the primary voting method used at any county, the total number of regular official ballots printed shall equal at a minimum fifty percent of the number of registered voters eligible to vote that ballot;
(G) When paper ballots are used in conjunction with a direct recording electronic voting system, the total number of regular official ballots printed shall equal at a minimum thirty percent of the registered voters eligible to vote that ballot;
(H) Regularly scheduled locations of polling places may not be changed, except for situations as provided in sections seven-e and seven-f, article one of this chapter: Provided, That if multiple precincts voted in one polling location for the November 2, 2010, regularly scheduled general election, these precincts may be consolidated into a single precinct. Locations for consolidated precincts shall provide Internet access, insofar as possible, for the sole purpose of utilizing the statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS) as an electronic poll book. However, constitutionally mandated redistricting may not take effect until the special primary election and special general election provided in this subsection are complete; and
(I) Citizens having no party organization or affiliation may nominate candidates as provided by sections twenty-three and twenty-four of article five of this chapter: Provided, That the number of signatures required to be submitted shall be equal to not less than one-quarter of one percent of the entire vote cast at the last preceding general election for governor. Notwithstanding the provisions of sections twenty three and twenty four of article five of this chapter, the signatures, notarized declaration of candidacy, and filing fee must be submitted no later than seven calendar days following the special primary election provided in this subsection.
(J) For the special primary election to be held pursuant to this subsection, early voting will also be conducted from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the Saturday immediately prior to the end of early voting.
(5) The provisions of this subsection shall expire upon the election and qualification of the Governor following the October 4, 2011 special general election.
(d) The Secretary of State shall by January 10, 2012 report to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance findings regarding of the operation of the new election undertaken pursuant to subsection (c) of this section. This report shall provide analysis of the direct and indirect costs to the state associated with the conduct of the new election.
(b) The commission shall consist of eight appointed members. Four public members shall be appointed by the Governor for six-year terms, except for the initial appointments which shall be staggered in accordance with subsection (c) of this section. Four attorney members shall be appointed by the Governor for six-year terms, except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, from a list of nominees provided by the Board of Governors of the West Virginia State Bar. The Board of Governors of the West Virginia State Bar shall nominate no more than twenty nor less than ten best qualified attorneys for appointment to the commission whenever there is a vacancy in the membership of the commission reserved for attorney members. The commission shall choose one of its appointed members to serve as chair for a three-year term. No more than four appointed members of the commission shall belong to the same political party. No more than three appointed members of the commission shall be residents of the same congressional district. All members of the commission shall be citizens of this state. Public members of the commission may not be licensed to practice law in West Virginia or any other jurisdiction.
(c) Of the initial appointments made to the commission, two public members and two attorney members shall be appointed for a term ending two years after the effective date of this section, one public member and one attorney member shall be appointed for a term ending four years after the effective date of this section, and one public member and one attorney member shall be appointed for a term ending six years after the effective date of this section.
(d) The Governor, or his or her designee, the President of the West Virginia State Bar, and the Dean of the West Virginia University College of Law shall serve as ex officio members of the commission.
(e) Members of the commission shall serve without compensation, except that commission members are entitled to reimbursement of travel and other necessary expenses actually incurred while engaged in official commission activities in accordance with the guidelines of the Travel Management Office of the Department of Administration, or its successor entity. The Governor’s Office shall cooperate with the commission to ensure that all resources necessary to carrying out the official duties of the commission are provided, including staff assistance, equipment and materials.
(f) The commission shall adopt written policies that formalize and standardize all operating procedures and ethical practices of its members including, but not limited to, procedures for training commission members, publishing notice of judicial vacancies, recruiting qualified individuals for consideration by the commission, receiving applications from qualified individuals, notifying the public of judicial vacancies, notifying state or local groups and organizations of judicial vacancies, and soliciting public comment on judicial vacancies. The written policies of the commission are not subject to the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, but shall be filed with the Secretary of State.
(g) A majority of the commission plus one shall constitute a quorum to do business.
(h) All organizational meetings of the commission shall be open to the public and subject to the requirements of article nine-a, chapter six of this code. An “organizational meeting” means an initial meeting to discuss the commission’s procedures and requirements for a judicial vacancy. The commission shall hold at least one organizational meeting upon the occurrence of a judicial vacancy. All other meetings of the commission are exempt from article nine-a, chapter six of this code.
(i) The commission shall make available to the public copies of any applications and any letters of recommendation written on behalf of any applicants. All other documents or materials created or received by the commission shall be confidential and exempt from the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-b of this code, except for the list of best qualified persons or accompanying memoranda submitted to the Governor in accordance with the provisions of subsection (j) of this section, which shall be available for public inspection, and the written policies required to be filed with the Secretary of State in accordance with subsection (f) of this section.
(j) The commission shall submit its list of best qualified persons to the Governor in alphabetical order. A memorandum may accompany the list of best qualified persons and state facts concerning each of the persons listed. The commission shall make copies of any list of best qualified persons and accompanying memoranda it submits to the Governor available for public inspection.
(b) For the special primary election required to be held prior to the November 2, 2010, election by operation of this section upon its enactment during the second extraordinary session of the Legislature, 2010, the Governor shall immediately issue a proclamation calling for a special primary election and general election. The special general election shall be held on November 2, 2010. The following provisions apply to these special elections:
(1) The proclamation for the special election shall be published prior to the special election as a Class II-0 legal advertisement in accordance with article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code and the publication area for the publication is each county of the state. The notice shall be filed with the Secretary of State who shall immediately transmit the document to the clerk of the county commission of each county. The clerk of the county commission of each county shall cause the document to be published within the county in accordance with this section.
(2) The provisions of this chapter shall apply to this special primary election to the extent that those provisions are consistent with the provisions of this section. Statutory time deadlines relating to availability of absentee ballots, certification, canvassing and related election procedures that cannot be met in a timely fashion, for the purpose of this special election, are modified as follows:
(A) The special primary election is to be held August 28, 2010;
(B) A notarized declaration of candidacy and filing fee shall be filed and received in hand by the Secretary of State by 5:00 p.m. on the fourth calendar day following the proclamation of the special primary election. The declaration of candidacy may be filed in person, by United States mail, electronic means or any other means authorized by the Secretary of State;
(C) Early-in-person voting shall be conducted during regular business hours beginning on Friday, August 20, 2010, and continuing through close of business Wednesday, August 25, 2010. In addition, early-in-person voting shall be conducted from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 21, 2010. No satellite polling locations will be utilized for the August 28, 2010, special primary election;
(D) The Secretary of State may issue emergency administrative orders to undertake other ministerial actions that are otherwise authorized pursuant to this code when necessary to assure the preservation of the voting rights of the citizens of this state and avoid fraudulent voting and election activities and otherwise assure the orderly and efficient conduct of the election: Provided, That such emergency administrative orders may not contravene the provisions of this section;
(E) The compensation of election officers, cost of printing ballots and all other reasonable and necessary expenses in holding and making the return of the special election to fill a vacancy in the office of United States Senator are obligations of the state incurred by the ballot commissioners, clerks of the circuit courts, clerks of the county commissions and county commissions of the various counties as agents of the state. All expenses of the special election are to be audited by the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State shall prepare and transmit to the county commissions forms on which the county commissions shall certify all expenses of these special elections to the Secretary of State. If satisfied that the expenses as certified by the county commissions are reasonable and were necessarily incurred, the Secretary of State shall requisition the necessary warrants from the Auditor of the state to be drawn on the State Treasurer and shall mail the warrants directly to the vendors of the special election services, supplies and facilities;
(F) For petition in lieu of payment of filing fees, a candidate seeking nomination for the vacant seat in the U.S. Senate may utilize the process set forth in section eight-a, article five of this chapter: Provided, That the minimum number of signatures required is one thousand seven hundred and forty;
(G) Drawing for ballot position will take place at the Secretary of State’s office 24 hours after the end of the filing period. For each major political party on the ballot, a single drawing by lot shall determine the candidate ballot position for ballots statewide. This drawing shall be witnessed by four clerks of the county commission chosen by the West Virginia Association of County Clerks, with no more than two clerks representing a single political party;
(H) The clerks of the county commission shall submit the list of persons who worked in the May 11, 2010, primary election to the county commission for appointment as election officials;
(I) Election officials shall be appointed by Tuesday, August 3, 2010;
(J) The clerks of the county commission shall provide notice to all election officials of the fact of their appointment by Wednesday, August 4, 2010. Included with the notice shall be a response notice form for the appointed person to return indicating if he or she agrees to serve in the specified capacity in the August 28, 2010, special primary election;
(K) The position of any election official notified of appointment who fails to return the response notice or otherwise confirm to the clerk of the county commission his or her agreement to serve by Tuesday, August 10, 2010, is considered vacant and the clerk of the county commission shall proceed to fill the vacancies;
(L) Election officials shall be trained by Thursday, August 19, 2010: Provided, That election officials who attended training for the May 11, 2010, primary election are exempt from additional training for the August 28, 2010, special primary election;
(M) A registered voter who has not reached eighteen years of age may vote in the August 28, 2010, special primary election: Provided, That the voter will attain eighteen years of age at the time of the special general election;
(N) When paper or optical scan ballots are the primary voting method used at any county, the total number of regular official ballots printed shall equal at a minimum fifty percent of the number of registered voters eligible to vote that ballot;
(O) When paper ballots are used in conjunction with a direct recording electronic voting system, the total number of regular official ballots printed shall equal at a minimum thirty percent of the registered voters eligible to vote that ballot;
(P) For counties in which two or more qualified newspapers publish a daily newspaper, the clerk of the county commission shall publish at least once each sample official August 28, 2010, primary ballot, on the last day on which a newspaper is published immediately preceding the August 28, 2010, special primary election, as a Class I-0 legal advertisement in the two qualified daily newspapers of different political parties within the county having the largest circulation in compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of West Virginia Code;
(Q) For counties having no more than one daily newspaper or having one or more qualified newspapers which publish weekly, the clerk of the county commission shall publish each sample official August 28, 2010, primary ballot, on the last day in which a newspaper is published immediately preceding the August 28, 2010, special primary election, as a Class I-0 legal advertisement in the qualified daily newspaper within the county having the largest circulation in compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of West Virginia Code;
(R) Counties shall not be required to separately publish a certified list of candidates;
(S) If only one notice of a sample ballot is published, it shall include a statement notifying voters that this is the sole publication of the sample ballot;
(T) Before voting machines are used, the clerks of the county commission shall have the ballots, vote recording devices, and electronic poll books inspected, and automatic tabulating equipment tested to ascertain that it will accurately count the votes cast. A single notice of the place and time of the inspection and testing shall be published, no less than three days in advance, as a class I-0 legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of West Virginia Code. The publication area is the county involved;
(U) Applications for absentee ballots shall be accepted from the date of proclamation, other than from voters eligible to vote under the provisions of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act who may apply for an absentee ballot for all elections within a calendar year as early as the first day of January of an election year;
(V) Regularly scheduled locations of polling places shall not be changed, except for emergency situations as provided for in §3-1-7(e) and (f): Provided, That if multiple precincts voted in one polling location for the May 11, 2010, regularly scheduled primary election, such precincts may be consolidated into a single precinct. Locations for consolidated precincts shall provide internet access, insofar as possible, for the sole purpose of utilizing the Statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS) as an electronic poll book; and
(W) Persons having no party affiliation may nominate candidates for the U.S. Senate vacancy under the procedures set forth in sections twenty-three and twenty-four, article five of this chapter: Provided, That the number of signatures required to be submitted shall be equal to not less than one-quarter of one percent of the entire vote cast at the last preceding general election for any statewide congressional or presidential candidate. Notwithstanding the provisions of sections twenty-three and twenty-four of article three of this section, the signatures, notarized declaration of candidacy, and filing fee must be submitted no later than August 23, 2010.
(c) The Secretary of State, shall by January 10, 2011, report to the Joint Committee of Government and Finance findings regarding of the operation of the special elections undertaken pursuant to subsection (b) of this section. This report shall provide analysis of: direct and indirect costs to the state associated with the conduct of the election; benefits and disadvantages of conducting an election on a Saturday; the impact of compressed time periods on efficient election administration; and whether this election process impacted early voting and participation by military and overseas voters.
(d) Any special election, which is held under the provisions of this section and occurs concurrently with a general election, shall be a separate election from the general election.
(e) Upon the election and qualification of a United States Senator by the United States Senate following the November 2, 2010, election, the provisions of this section will expire.
(b) In the case of a member of the House of Delegates, the list shall be submitted by the party executive committee of the delegate district in which the vacating member resided at the time of his or her election or appointment. The appointment to fill a vacancy in the House of Delegates is for the unexpired term.
(c) In the case of a State Senator, the list shall be submitted by the party executive committee of the state senatorial district in which the vacating senator resided at the time of his or her election or appointment. If the unexpired term in the office of the State Senator will be for less than two years and two months, the appointment is for the unexpired term. If the unexpired term will be for a period equal to or longer than two years and two months, the appointment is until the next general election and until the election and qualification of a successor to the person appointed, at which general election the vacancy shall be filled by election for the unexpired term. Notice of an election to fill a vacancy in the office of State Senator shall be given by the Governor by proclamation and shall be published before the election as a Class II-0 legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code, and the publication area for the publication shall be each county in the senatorial district. Nominations for candidates to fill a vacancy shall be made in the manner prescribed for nominating a candidate to fill a vacancy in the office of Governor to be voted for at a general election. The state senatorial district executive committee of the political party shall discharge the duties incident to State Senator nominations devolving upon the party state executive committee in nominating a candidate for a state office.
Notice of the election shall be given by order of the county commission and published as prescribed in section six of this article. Nomination of candidates to fill the office for an unexpired term in the office of county commissioner or clerk of the county commission shall be made in the manner prescribed for making nominations to fill a vacancy in the office of the clerk of the circuit court.
In the event that the election for an unexpired term is held at the same time as the election for a full term for county commissioner, the full term shall be counted first and the unexpired term shall be counted second. If the candidate with the highest number of votes for the unexpired term resides in the same magisterial district as the candidate with the highest number of votes for the full term, the candidate for the full term shall be seated. The candidate with the next highest number of votes for the unexpired term residing in a different magisterial district shall be seated for the unexpired term.
Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2012 1st Special Session
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