Senate Bill No. 567
(By Senator Barnes)
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[Introduced March 12, 2009; referred to the Committee on
Government Organization; and then to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §50-1-1 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to electing magistrates by
division.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §50-1-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. COURTS AND OFFICERS.
§50-1-1. Magistrate court created.
(a)There is hereby created in each county of
this the state
a magistrate court
with such numbers consisting of the number of
magistrates for each court
as are hereafter provided that is
authorized by the provisions of this article. There shall be
elected by the voters of each county, at the general election to be
held in the year one thousand nine hundred seventy-six, and in every fourth year thereafter, such number of magistrates as is
provided in section two of this article. The filing fee for the
office of magistrate shall be one percent of the annual salary.
The term of magistrate
s shall be for four years and shall begin on
January 1 of the year following the year of election.
The filing
fee for the office of magistrate shall be one percent of the annual
salary.
(b) Beginning with the primary and general elections to be
conducted in the year 2012, in every county there shall be, for
election purposes, numbered divisions corresponding to the number
of magistrates in each county. Each magistrate shall be elected at
large from the entire county. In each numbered division of the
county, 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 for candidates in other
numbered divisions within the county. 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.
(c) In counties where voting machines or electronic voting
systems are used, the procedures of section eleven, article four,
chapter three and section twelve, article four-a of said chapter
three of this code shall apply respectively to the election of
magistrates in the same manner as they apply to the election of
members of the House of Delegates.
Notwithstanding the provisions of section seven, article five,
chapter three of this code, for purposes of the primary election to
be held in the year one thousand nine hundred seventy-six, the last
day for filing certificates of candidacy for the office of
magistrate shall be extended to the twenty-seventh day of February
of that year.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that magistrates
of a county shall run for election in numbered divisions similar to
the election of circuit judges and family court judges.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.