West Virginia

Is It Time for SCOTUS to Revisit the Anderson-Burdick Test?: Insights from the Challenge to West Virginia’s Ballot Order Statute

jaboone · November 18, 2020 ·

By: Daniel Bruce

In a previous article on the ongoing challenge to West Virginia’s ballot order statute, I highlighted the growing importance of the Political Question Doctrine to challenges to election administration laws like the one at issue in Nelson v. Warner.

As a refresher, W. Va. Code § 3-6-2(c)(3) requires candidates appearing on statewide ballots to be placed in the order of the party whose candidate received the highest number of statewide votes in the previous presidential election. The state’s Democratic Party is challenging the law based on the “primacy effect” granted to Republican candidates who appear first on the ballot.

In a Challenge to West Virginia’s Ballot Order Law, Will the Fourth Circuit Continue a Post-Rucho Trend of Limiting Federal Review of State Election Laws?

Election Law Society · September 30, 2020 ·

By Daniel Bruce

A ballot order challenge currently pending before the Fourth Circuit may have significant implications for the development of political question doctrine following the Supreme Court’s controversial decision in Rucho v. Common Cause.

In August, the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia enjoined the West Virginia Secretary of State from enforcing the state’s nearly thirty-year-old ballot order statute and ordered it to implement a nondiscriminatory alternative for the 2020 election. Passed by Democrats in 1991, W. Va. Code § 3-6-2(c)(3) requires candidates appearing on statewide ballots to be placed in the order of the party whose candidate received the highest number of statewide votes in the previous presidential election.

West Virginia Campaign Finance Pilot Program

Election Law Society · April 2, 2018 ·

By: Jordan Smith

This blog is no stranger to the judicial election structure in the State of West Virginia. In 2015, one of our posts discussed West Virginia’s transition from partisan to nonpartisan judicial election. Today, this blog returns to the West Virginia judiciary to discuss the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals Public Campaign Financing Pilot Program (“Pilot Program”).

West Virginia’s Relentless March to Expand Voter Registration

Election Law Society · January 24, 2018 ·

By: Jordan Smith

West Virginia is undergoing what appears to be a voter registration revolution as the state legislature continues to make strides to simplify access to the ballot box. The following post aims to discuss these advancements in an effort to summarize the current state of voter registration in the Mountain State.

In 2013, former-Governor Earl Ray Tomblin, signed into law SB 477, which amended the state constitution to allow for online voter registration (OVR). The state was not quick to implement the OVR system, as the Secretary of State’s Office did not unveil an official program until the latter half of 2015. In essence, the now-implemented OVR application requires a registrant to supply the same information required on the paper registration cards: full name, birthdate, location, citizenship status, last four digits of the registrant’s social security number, and the registrant’s driver’s license/state-issued ID number. If a registrant does not have a state-issued ID or driver’s license, they must instead complete and submit a standard paper form. As a result, while OVR streamlines the process for certain registrants, it does so only for those who would likely have already taken advantage of the “motor voter” provisions of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 or the state’s newer electronic voter registration system at the Department of Motor Vehicles.
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Registering to Vote, As Easy As Driving a Car?

Election Law Society · February 27, 2017 ·

By: Brooke Hannah

What if registering to vote was as easy as riding a bike? Well, maybe not a bike, but what about as easy and effortless as driving a car after years of experience? While it may not be quite that simple yet, West Virginia has made it close to being that simple as they have just passed a bill allowing for the information of those who get a driver’s license or identification card to be submitted into the voter registration process. Promoting and simplifying the voter registration process is an important goal for West Virginia. The state has demonstrated its dedication to improving the voter registration process by implementing automatic voter registration, launching online voter registration, and becoming a voting member of the Electronic Registration Information Center (“ERIC”).