Senate Bill No. 452
(By Senator Grubb)
____________
[Introduced February 20, 1995;
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
____________
A BILL to amend and reenact section eight, article one, chapter
three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and reenact section
twenty-four, article five of said chapter, all relating to
elections and nominating procedures; increasing ballot access
by changing the definition of political party; and extending
the filing deadline for certain nominating certificates.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section eight, article one, of chapter three of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; and that section twenty-four, article
five of said chapter be amended and reenacted, all to read as
follows:
§3-1-8. Political party defined; parties or groups that may
participate`in municipal primary elections.
Any affiliation of voters representing any principle or
organization which, at the last preceding general election, polled
for its candidate for governor, secretary of state, treasurer, auditor, attorney general, or commissioner of agriculture, at least
one per cent of the total number of votes cast for all candidates
for that office any one of such state public offices in the state,
shall be a political party, within the meaning and for the purpose
of this chapter: Provided, That notwithstanding the foregoing
provisions of this section, the governing body of any municipality
may, by ordinance adopted by the affirmative vote of at least three
fourths of the members of such governing body by recorded vote,
provide that municipal political parties or groups within such
municipality that do not meet the requirements of this section for
classification as a political party may participate in the primary
elections of any such municipality. Any such ordinance shall
contain provisions implementing the foregoing proviso, which
implementing provisions shall conform as nearly as practicable to
any general provisions of law relating to municipal primary
elections.
§3-5-24. Filing of nomination certificates; time.
All certificates nominating candidates for office under the
preceding section, including a candidate for the office of
presidential elector, shall be filed, in the case of a candidate
to be voted for by the voters of the entire state or by any
subdivision thereof other than a single county, with the
secretary of state, and in the case of all candidates for county
and magisterial district offices, including all offices to be
filled by the voters of a single county, with the clerk of the
circuit court of the county, not later than the day preceding the
date on which the primary election is held first day of August preceding the general election. After such date no such
certificate shall be received by such officers.
NOTE:
The purpose of this bill is to increase the ability
of political parties to obtain ballot access by expanding the
scope of the definition of political party and to extend the
deadline for filing certain nomination certificates.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from present law, and underscoring indicates new language that
would be added.