H. B. 2614
(By Delegates Kelley and Jenkins)
[Introduced March 19, 1997; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section sixteen, article one, chapter
three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and reenact
section eleven-a, article four-a of said chapter; and
section four, article five of said chapter, all relating to
providing that candidates for the supreme court of
appeals run on a nonpartisan basis solely during general
elections.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section sixteen, article one; section eleven-a, article
four-a; section four, article five, all of chapter three of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS.
§3-1-16. Election of state officers.
At the general election to be held in the year one thousand
nine hundred sixty-eight, and in every fourth year thereafter,
there shall be elected a governor, secretary of state, treasurer,
auditor, attorney general, and commissioner of agriculture. At
the general election in the year one thousand nine hundred
sixty-eight, and in every second year thereafter, there shall be
elected a member of the state Senate for each senatorial
district, and a member or members of the House of Delegates of
the state from each county or each delegate district. At the
general election to be held in the year one thousand nine hundred
sixty-eight, and in every twelfth year thereafter, there shall be
elected one judge of the supreme court of appeals, and at the
general election to be held in the year one thousand nine hundred
seventy-two, and in every twelfth year thereafter, two judges of
the supreme court of appeals, and at the general election to be
held in the year one thousand nine hundred seventy-six, and in
every twelfth year thereafter, two judges of the supreme court of
appeals. Beginning in the general election held in the year two
thousand and in each general election held thereafter in which
judges to the supreme court are to be elected, candidates for the
supreme court shall run on a nonpartisan basis.
ARTICLE 4A. ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEMS.
§3-4A-11a. Ballots tabulated electronically; arrangement, quantity to be printed, ballot stub numbers.
(a) The board of ballot commissioners in counties using
ballots upon which votes may be recorded by means of marking with
electronically sensible ink or pencil and which marks are
tabulated electronically shall cause the ballots to be printed
for use in elections.
(b) (1) The heading of the ballot, the arrangement of
offices in columns, the spaces for marking votes, the printing of
offices, instructions and candidates names shall conform as
nearly as possible to that prescribed in this chapter for paper
ballots, except that the secretary of state may prescribe
necessary modifications to accommodate the tabulating system.
Nonpartisan elections for the supreme court of appeals, board of
education and any question to be voted upon shall be separated
from the partisan ballot and separately headed in display type
with a title clearly identifying the purpose of the election, and
such separate section shall constitute a separate ballot wherever
a separate ballot is required under the provisions of this
chapter.
(2) Both the face and the reverse side of the ballot may
contain the names of candidates, only if means to ensure the
secrecy of the ballot are provided and lines for the signatures of the poll clerks on the ballot are printed on a portion of the
ballot which is deposited in the ballot box and upon which marks
do not interfere with the proper tabulation of the votes.
(3) The arrangement of candidates within each office shall
be determined in the same manner as for other electronic voting
systems, as prescribed in this chapter. On the general election
ballot for all offices, and on the primary election ballot only
for those offices to be filled by election, except delegate to
national convention, lines for entering write-in votes shall be
provided below the names of candidates for each office, and the
number of lines provided for any office shall equal the number of
persons to be elected, or three, whichever is fewer. The words
"WRITE-IN, IF ANY" shall be printed directly under each line for
write-ins. Such lines shall be opposite a position to mark the
vote.
(c) The primary election ballots shall be printed in the
color of ink specified by the secretary of state for the various
political parties, and the general election ballot shall be
printed in black ink. All ballots shall be printed on white
paper suitable for automatic tabulation and shall contain a
perforated stub at the top or bottom of the ballot which shall be
numbered sequentially in the same manner as provided in this
article for ballots upon which votes are recorded by means of
perforating. The number of ballots printed and the packaging of ballots for the precincts shall conform to the requirements for
paper ballots as provided in this chapter.
(d) In addition to the official ballots, the ballot
commissioners shall provide all other materials and equipment
necessary to the proper conduct of the election.
ARTICLE 5. PRIMARY ELECTIONS AND NOMINATING PROCEDURES.
§3-5-4. Nomination of candidates in primary elections.
At each primary election, the candidate or candidates of
each political party for all offices to be filled at the ensuing
general election by the voters of the entire state, of each
congressional district, of each state senatorial district, of
each delegate district, of each judicial circuit of West
Virginia, of each county, and of each magisterial district in the
state shall be nominated by the voters of the different political
parties, except that no presidential elector shall be nominated
at a primary election.
In primary elections a plurality of the votes cast shall be
sufficient for the nomination of candidates for office. Where
only one candidate of a political party for any office in a
political division, including party committeemen and delegates to
national conventions, is to be chosen, or where a judicial
circuit has two or more circuit judges and one circuit judge is
to be chosen for each numbered division within the circuit, the candidate receiving the highest number of votes therefor in the
primary election shall be declared the party nominee for such
office. Where two or more such candidates are to be chosen in
the primary election, the candidates constituting the proper
number to be so chosen who shall receive the highest number of
votes cast in the political division in which they are candidates
shall be declared the party nominees and choices for such
offices, except that: (1) Candidates for the office of
commissioner of the county commission shall be nominated and
elected in accordance with the provisions of section ten, article
nine of the constitution of the state of West Virginia; (2)
members of county boards of education shall be elected at primary
elections in accordance with the provisions of sections five and
six of this article; (3) candidates for the House of Delegates
shall be nominated and elected in accordance with the residence
restrictions provided in section two, article two, chapter one of
this code; and (4) in judicial circuits having numbered
divisions, each numbered division shall be tallied separately and
the candidate in each division receiving a plurality of the votes
cast shall be declared the party nominee for the office in that
numbered division; and (5) candidates for the supreme court of
appeals shall not run in primary elections, but shall be elected
in accordance with the provisions of section sixteen, article one
of this chapter.
In case of tie votes between candidates for party
nominations or elections in primary elections, the choice of the
political party shall be determined by the executive committee of
the party for the political division in which such persons are
candidates.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide for the
nonpartisan election of state supreme court justices. Since the
election is set up on a nonpartisan basis, the bill provides that
the judges only run during a general election, beginning in the
general election to be held in the year 2000, since there is no
need for party nominations or primaries to choose partisan
candidates.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that
would be added.