The release calls the data sharing system free of partisanship and outside influence. Earlier this year, Warner pulled West Virginia out of the 30-plus state member Electronic Registration Information Center, a non-partisan data sharing group, better known as ERIC.
Secretary of State Mac Warner announced Friday that election data-sharing agreements have been made with Ohio, Virginia and Florida and the state is nearing an agreement with Tennessee. In a press release, Warner said the partnerships will help keep elections fair.
“The agreements set forth general terms to securely share data between states for the purpose of preventing and identifying fraud and form a foundation for future state partnerships ahead of, and after, the 2024 election cycle,” Warner said.
The release calls the data sharing system free of partisanship and outside influence. Earlier this year, Warner pulled West Virginia out of the 30-plus state member Electronic Registration Information Center, a non-partisan data sharing group, better known as ERIC.
Warner said in the release that West Virginia’s surrounding states make up the majority of identified duplicate registrations.
“The states that have signed agreements account for nearly 50 percent of all abandoned registrations since 2017,” Warner said. “This regional foundation forms the beginning of onboarding other states interested in identifying and prosecuting fraud.”
WVPB reached out to the Secretary of State’s office for comment on the difference between the two data-sharing groups. As of publication time we had received no response.
Richard Fox was sentenced in Fayette County Circuit Court for casting two mail-in ballots – one in West Virginia and one in Florida during the Nov. 3, 2020 election.
A West Virginia man has been convicted of voter fraud after illegally casting more than one ballot during the 2020 presidential election.
Richard Fox was sentenced in Fayette County Circuit Court for casting two mail-in ballots – one in West Virginia and one in Florida during the Nov. 3, 2020 election.
Secretary of State Mac Warner Thursday announced that Fox was ordered to pay $1,000 and serve a year’s probation for illegal voting during the 2020 election.
Warner said Fox’s actions not only violated the law, but broke the trust of the state’s citizens, and harmed the integrity of every race on his ballot.
The release did not provide any information on who Fox voted for but Warner said his conviction serves as a warning to anyone tempted to commit voter fraud that they will face prosecution.
Warner, a Republican who is running for governor in West Virginia, has often questioned election integrity nationally, but has continued to say that West Virginia elections are safe.
His office has developed a “See Something, Text Something” cell phone tool that allows residents to submit tips about suspected illegal voting.
Warner made an appearance at the “March for Trump” rally in Charleston after the election, holding up a “Stop the Steal” sign.
He was one of the first GOP election officials to opt to withdraw from the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), a nonpartisan group with a record of combating voter fraud.
Warner said he has had better success working with his own team to verify and investigate the rolls, as well as collaborating with other states.
Despite Warner’s repeated claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, multiple investigations, audits and court cases concluded there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud or improper counting that could have changed the results of the election.
The Republican-majority Committee on House Administration plans to use testimony from the hearing to develop a bill known as the American Confidence in Elections Act that would strengthen states’ roles in establishing and administering election laws.
Secretary of State Mac Warner testified Thursday before members of the U.S. House of Representatives about voter confidence in elections, as well as election security measures.
The Republican-majority Committee on House Administration plans to use testimony from the hearing to develop a bill known as the American Confidence in Elections Act that would strengthen states’ roles in establishing and administering election laws.
It would provide states with tools to “boost election integrity and remove outdated federal policies that get in their way,” according to the committee’s website.
The bill would also prohibit non-citizen voting, allow REAL ID state drivers licenses or identification cards as proof of citizenship, and would create a federal forum that would help states discuss “best practices, paired with model state legislation for state legislatures to consider.”
Warner discussed West Virginia’s constant voter roll updates and technological ease of access as points of interest for the bill. He also mentioned that West Virginia has permanent state funding for voting infrastructure like equipment and maintenance.
“Collectively, these measures build public confidence, which has been reported independently by MIT who put West Virginia near the top of states in voter confidence,” he said in his testimony to the committee.
He also argued for reducing mail-in voting, revisiting the National Voter Registration Act that allows for streamlined voter registration for anyone who applies for a driver’s license and stricter enforcement of election laws.
“Technology has advanced considerably since 1993, and many local election officials, and our state’s Department of Motor Vehicles contend that the DMV should not be registering people to vote,” Warner said. “People can register online using a cell phone, computer, tablet, or other mobile device.”
Warner also echoed allegations from House Republicans like Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who claim that federal intelligence agencies misinformed the public about the Hunter Biden laptop controversy during the 2020 presidential campaign.
Warner cited the controversy as an example of an election being compromised, though numerous independent experts and courts say there was no significant fraud in the 2020 election, including the U.S. Justice Department and the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
Warner, alongside Rep. Alex Mooney, R-West Virginia, opposed the Biden administration’s Executive Order 14019, “Promoting Access to Voting,” last June, citing federal overreach. It would have involved federal agencies in state voter registration efforts.
The deadline to register to vote, or update a current voter registration, for the upcoming May 10 Primary Election is April 19.
The deadline to register to vote, or update a current voter registration, for the upcoming May 10 Primary Election is April 19.
Voters who have moved to a different address, changed their name, or wish to change their political party should update their registration.
Eligible citizens can register to vote in one of three ways:
Online atGoVoteWV.com using a valid West Virginia driver’s license or state-issued ID number;
Mailing a paper application to their county clerk (application form available atGoVoteWV.com or calling their county clerk to have one provided); or
In-person registration including at the public offices of the county clerk, Secretary of State, Division of Motor Vehicles, public assistance offices, agencies serving people with disabilities, and military recruiting agencies.
Mailed registrations must be received or postmarked by no later than April 19. For those who wish to register in person, check the local office’s business hours. Those registering online must register by the close of business of their county clerk’s office.
Voters can find their voting districts and polling places for the May 10 Primary Election by using the address lookup tool on the WV Interactive Map for Voting Precincts & Districts atGoVoteWV.com.
The period to file to run in the 2022 Primary Election is half over — it ends on Jan. 29th. To find out how things are going so far, Eric Douglas spoke with Secretary of State Mac Warner about his role overseeing the state’s elections.
The West Virginia Primary Election will be held on May 10, 2022. The last day to register to vote is April 29, 2022.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Douglas: We’re literally right at the middle of the candidate filing period for the primary election. Let’s go through the numbers real fast first. How many candidates have filed?
Courtesy Secretary of State’s Office
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Secretary of State Mac Warner
Warner: Up to the last hour, we had 662 total filings. Those are for the statewide races and House of Delegates and that sort of thing. In these off year elections, you have a lot of the state executive committees, party challenges that are on the ballot. We’ve had 467 of those.
Douglas: For the actual elected official races, you’re just shy of 200 candidates for the various leadership roles.
Warner: Just to put it in context, that’s about what we had at this stage four years ago in 2018. You want to compare this to off year elections versus elections when there are presidential races, governor and so forth. So we’re about on track with where we were four years ago.
Douglas: Any surprises popping out to you?
Warner: Not really. What we have is a lot of moving parts this election. I’m saying that because the 2020 census was just done. We all know that West Virginia lost some population. We went from three congressional districts to two. So there is some movement of lines and districts. And then the state legislature, a couple years ago, directed that we go with single member districts in the House of Delegates. So we went from 67 districts that used to have three and up to five members to now single member districts. So we have 100 delegates and there are 100 districts.
The message here to candidates is to make sure that you are living in the proper district. That is incumbent upon the candidate themselves. We’ll do the best we can, but the requirements are that they know which district they live in.
With the adjustment in the populations due to the census, the county clerks have been very busy. And they will be sending out notifications to people if your precinct changed. The bottom line is, as we get closer, everybody needs to be paying attention.
Douglas: Just to be clear on one thing, candidates have to live in the district for a year prior to the general election, right?
Warner: That’s correct.
Douglas: Back to the numbers for a second? How many candidates do you normally end up seeing in the course of an election for a primary election?
Warner: Again, going back to 2018, we had 2480 total filings. That included all of those party races that we talked about before. About 500 candidates are at the state level, House of Delegates, Senate.
Douglas: Do you normally see a big push, like the last day or so?
Warner: There is not necessarily a big push, but you have these late filers who are watching to see who else is running; are they self funded, or are they incumbents and that sort of thing. And if no one’s filed, and obviously that last day it does generate interest, and then some people are deciding to run for the House or the Senate. That’s why we have our offices open here in Charleston, in Clarksburg and in Martinsburg until midnight, on Saturday, January 29. Somebody can come in at the very last minute to file for office. If you’re going to file by mail, it has to be postmarked by January 29.
Douglas: We’re about five months from the Primary Election. What do West Virginia voters need to know?
Warner: A couple things. First, make sure that your registration is correct, your address is correct. That’s the way the county clerk lets you know which precinct you’re voting in and where your polling place location is. That sort of thing. Everybody can go to the website, GoVoteWV.com. It’s a simple couple of clicks.
The second thing is, the 2020 elections were irregular. COVID-19, the executive order by the governor to stay home, we moved the election, sent out absentee applications. We’re going back to what the normal course of businesses was in the state code to run elections. Don’t just assume because it was done once it’s going to be done the same the next time around. We are an excuse-based absentee voting state. That means you have to have a reason to vote absentee. And you have to fit a very clearly defined reason. So one of the reasons might be you’ve gotten COVID. And you need to stay home for medical reasons that would fit that medical excuse, but it’s not the blanket excuse that we had in 2020.
Douglas: Is there anything else that we haven’t talked about that you want to add?
Warner: Nationwide, there’s a large voting bill that’s being considered and the county clerks have been almost unanimous across the state; 54 of the 55 county clerks have voiced their opinion that it is not healthy for West Virginia. If anybody has questions about that, talk with your local county clerk. I’d be glad to discuss it as well. West Virginia has been recognized across the nation as setting a standard for clean, fair elections. I’ve been asked to testify in front of Congress twice and explained what West Virginia’s doing and how we did it so well. It began with the cleaning up of the voter registration lists. People have confidence in the West Virginia elections. And we had record setting turnout, the highest since 1960. In the last 2020 elections, over 802,000 people voted, and we had about 1.1 million registered voters. So a very high turnout.
We implemented a new procedure called “See Something, Text Something.” If someone’s intimidating you, somebody is trying to buy a vote or do anything nefarious, take a picture of it, send it to us, text it to us, let us know. We have investigators across the state, we are working with the US Attorney’s Office, the Attorney General’s Office, we have our own investigators, we’ll be glad to put somebody on it to investigate.
We take voting improprieties very seriously, we will investigate and we will prosecute. And let’s just nip it in the bud before anybody has any ideas of doing something improper.
Filing for political candidates who plan to seek office this year begins Jan. 10.
The ballot for the May 10 primary election includes open spots in the U.S. House of Representatives, state Senate and House of Delegates, county commissions and boards of education, and conservation district supervisors among others.
Candidates for federal, statewide, legislative and judicial (excluding magistrates) offices, as well as those running for office in more than one county, are required to file a Certificate of Announcement with the Secretary of State’s office. Candidates for all other offices file at their respective county clerk’s office.
Generally, candidates for most offices must be eligible to register to vote, must be the proper age for the office on or before the 2022 General Election, and must be residents of the district where applicable.
Candidates should check their district map to make sure they file to run in the correct district.
Candidates can file in person at the Secretary of State’s Office in Charleston during regular business hours and from 8:30 a.m. to midnight on Saturday, Jan. 29. Candidates can also file at the North Central WV Business Hub, located at 200 W. Main St. in Clarksburg, and the Eastern Panhandle Business Hub, located at 229 E. Martin St., Suite 100, in Martinsburg.
Alternatively, candidates can mail their Certificate of Announcement and filing fee to the West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office, State Capitol Building, Charleston, WV 25305. All filings mailed by USPS must be received or postmarked during the filing period. Filings received after Jan. 29 cannot be accepted.
For information on the West Virginia 2022 election process, visit GoVoteWV.com
