A West Virginia political candidate who was not a registered Republican when he filed papers to run for a House of Delegates seat in the upcoming GOP primary said Tuesday that it was a simple oversight and he plans to continue with his campaign.
A West Virginia political candidate who was not a registered Republican when he filed papers to run for a House of Delegates seat in the upcoming GOP primary said Tuesday that it was a simple oversight and he plans to continue with his campaign.
Bob Fehrenbacher is running against incumbent Republican Delegate Roger Conley in the May 10 primary for the District 11 seat representing portions of Wood County.
Forms that candidates fill out to run for office must be signed and notarized. They specifically require candidates to attest to their party affiliation.
Fehrenbacher said in a telephone interview that when he signed his candidacy papers in January, “I thought in good faith that I was registered as a Republican. Much to my surprise, I was not. And as soon as that came to my attention, I immediately went into the West Virginia secretary of state’s system and changed it. I should have checked and I did not do that.”
The state Republican Party said in a statement that Fehrenbacher instead was an unaffiliated voter when he filed his papers and did not register as a GOP voter until late March.
“Simply put, lying on a sworn statement is not acceptable behavior for those who wish to be elected officials,” GOP chairman Mark Harris said in the statement.
Harris said he called on Fehrenbacher to withdraw from the race “for the good of the West Virginia Republican Party and our voters.”
Fehrenbacher said his campaign will go on.
“I am a strong Republican supporter and am aligned with Republican candidates, donated to Republican candidates and supported the election of Republicans” he said.
Fehrenbacher said it’s his understanding that if someone had brought up his voter registration within 10 days after his filing, he could have been disqualified from running.
“That did not occur, and as a result of that, it’s my understanding that I am a valid candidate,” he said.
An after-hours message left with the secretary of state’s office was not immediately returned Tuesday.
The winner of the May primary will move on to the general election to face Democrat Harry Deitzler. Deitzler is an attorney and a former county prosecutor who is unchallenged in the primary.
All of West Virginia's 55 counties offer early voting for this year's primary election. Early voting starts Wednesday and continues through May 7.
All of West Virginia’s 55 counties offer early voting for this year’s primary election, which is being held May 10.
Early voting starts Wednesday and continues through May 7, including the last two Saturdays before the primary, Secretary of State Mac Warner’s office said. Voters may cast an early ballot at the county courthouse, an annex or a designated voting location during normal business hours. On Saturdays, voting will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
West Virginia’s primary is semi-open, meaning voters who aren’t affiliated with a recognized political party may participate in the primary of the party of their choice. Unaffiliated voters must ask poll workers for the specific party’s ballot they desire, Warner’s office said.
More information about in-person and absentee voting and a list of early voting sites are available online at GoVoteWV.com. Voters can also check registration at the site.
Candidates planning to run for office in West Virginia’s May 10 primary election may file their paperwork beginning Monday, Secretary of State Mac Warner said.
The certificate of announcement may be filed with the secretary of state’s office or the county clerk’s office, depending on the office being sought. Paperwork and filing fee must be submitted by midnight Jan. 29.
The paperwork must be filed in the secretary of state’s office for candidates seeking federal, statewide, legislative, and judicial other than magistrate offices, and for those running for office in more than one county. All other candidates file at their respective county clerk’s office.
Offices on the ballot this year include U.S. House; state Senate and House of Delegates; county commissions; county boards of education; conservation district supervisors; Greater Huntington Park and Recreation District; political party executive committees for state, congressional, delegate, senatorial and county districts; and any vacancies for unexpired terms that are to be filled.
Some West Virginia registered voters will be asked to verify their address, or potentially not be able to vote in upcoming elections.
If you are a registered voter and have:
changed your address with the DMV or post office,
not voted — or updated your voter registration — in the past four years
you’ll be getting a postcard from the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office to verify your address.
Sample voter registration confirmation postcard from the Secretary of State’s office.
You can verify your address by scanning the QR code on the postcard with a mobile device and follow the instructions to keep your registration in “active” status. Voters can also check and update their registration information online at ovr.sos.wv.gov, or by simply mailing the completed pre-paid postage postcard to their county clerk.
Voters who do not return the postcards, or if the cards are returned by the USPS as “undeliverable,” will be categorized as inactive.
Inactive voters are still eligible to vote in the next two federal election cycles, but those who don’t vote may not be able to vote in further elections
If the voter does not confirm their address, or vote, state law mandates that the registration be canceled.
Election officials will mail postcards to each of the 169,417 voters identified after the November 2020 General Election.
Regular maintenance on voter registration lists is mandated by the National Voter Registration Act and West Virginia law.
Voter list maintenance has been a priority for the WV Secretary of State’s Office since Secretary Mac Warner first took office in 2017. Warner reports that from January 2017 to July 2021, 364,301 abandoned, deceased, duplicate, out of state and convicted felon voter registration files have been purged in the Statewide Voter Registration System.
During the same period of time, a total of 255,888 new voters have been registered to vote, which included more than 67,000 high school students.
For more information, please contact your county clerk or the WV Secretary of State’s Office at (304) 558-8000.
On Dec. 14, electoral votes for the president of the United States will officially be cast in all 50 states. In normal years, the Electoral College is often considered a formality in the election process for the office of president. According to experts, it is the Electoral College that actually decides who will secure the office, not the voters in the United States.
Eric Douglas spoke with Bradford Deel, a professor of Political Science at the University of Charleston to find out more about the system.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Douglas: Can you give me a rough explanation of what the Electoral College is?
University of Charleston
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Professor Bradford Deel from the University of Charleston in Charleston, West Virginia.
Deel: Very simply, the Electoral College is how the president is selected. There is a false notion in the minds of most people that they have a right to vote for the president. They don’t. You have no constitutional right to cast a vote for president. The Constitution is very clear and it lays out that the Electoral College is how the president is selected. The way the Electoral College functions can vary by state and state legislatures choose how they will select their electors for president.
Douglas: So why was the Electoral College created? What’s the history behind it, instead of everyone voting for president?
Deel: You have to understand that prior to the American Civil War, the correct grammar was “the United States are,” or “these United States.” You didn’t see very many things that said, “the United States is.” The Civil War really resolved whether or not this was a nation, or whether the union was more like a treaty between countries, like NATO or the European Union. States were really much more powerful than the national government. The presidency was not considered to be an extraordinarily strong position. So, it wasn’t something that was considered of national importance. But it was considered crucial to allow the states to have their input in it.
Each state could choose their electors, however they wanted and not all of them used popular vote. It’s a function of the power of state legislatures and the relationship of the state to the federal government, that’s behind the Electoral College.
Douglas: There are 538 electors in total across the United States. Where does that come from?
Deel: The electors are equal in each state to the number of senators, plus the number of representatives. So West Virginia, for example, gets five electoral votes. We have two senators and three representatives. There are 100 members of the United States Senate and 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Then there’s three electors for the District of Columbia. And that’s where you get the 538.
Douglas: Run through the process of the Electoral College.
Deel: A lot of what we’ve seen this time is normal processes that people don’t pay attention to. A lot of states allow ballots that come in after Election Day to count. West Virginia does. These are ballots from service members, etcetera, up to about five days after the election. Once you have all the ballots in and all the ballots are counted, they canvass the votes. After the canvass, the results are official. If it’s close, candidates can request recounts. In some states, that’s automatic. In some states, you have to request it. But at some point, the governor or the secretary of state certifies the election results. In most states, if you’re going to challenge election results, you have to do it before the certification. Once the certification has been made, then the states will appoint their electors pursuant to the statute they’ve got set out within their state laws.
Douglas: In West Virginia, as I understand it, the electors are selected by the state party officials.
Deel: They are selected by the state convention or state party officials. The Democratic Party has selected their slate of electors. The Republican Party has selected their slate of electors. And since the Republican candidate got the most number of votes in West Virginia, it is the republican electors that will meet to cast their vote for president. All five of them, I’m rather certain, will cast their vote for Donald Trump.
Douglas: There have been a few instances, but it’s not often, that the electors switch their vote or vote for someone else.
Deel: It’s very rare. Thirty-three states require the electors to vote for whoever won the popular vote in the state. Seventeen states don’t require that. West Virginia doesn’t require it. People selected as electors are typically party officials or they might be a local government official. These are party stalwarts. An elector in West Virginia can theoretically vote for whoever they want to vote for. But the reality is, if you ever did that, that makes you persona non grata, and you ruin your career within that party. So it happens, but it’s pretty rare.
Douglas: One of the criticisms we’ve heard about the Electoral College has been that sometimes the winner of the Electoral College is not the winner of the popular vote.
Deel: The electoral college gives disproportionate influence to states with smaller populations, simply because every state gets two senators. And so West Virginia, with 1.8 million people has two senators. California, with however many million people, has two senators. In New York, there’s more people in Brooklyn than in the entire state of West Virginia. And New York has two senators.
So the Electoral College gives disproportionate influence to smaller states. That’s why I don’t think you’re going to see it go away anytime soon. In fact, West Virginia’s influence is going to be even more disproportional after the 2020 census, because we’re going to lose a representative.
Douglas: The other argument is that at least all the decisions aren’t made in New York or, California, Texas or Florida. The smaller states get a say about how things go.
Deel: The argument in favor of the Electoral College is that if you go to just a national popular vote, then a state like West Virginia becomes irrelevant in political campaigning at the presidential level. But here’s the reality. West Virginia was irrelevant anyway. For that matter, so is California, right? Donald Trump and Joe Biden spent very little time and effort in California. Why? Because everyone knew Joe Biden was gonna win California. Joe Biden and Donald Trump spent very little effort in West Virginia, because we knew Donald Trump was going to win.
The candidates spent almost all their efforts in roughly 10 states and ignored the other 40. The idea that your state is important because it has a small number of electoral votes compared to the popular vote, I don’t think is necessarily a valid argument. The question is whether or not your state is a battleground state. If you go with the national popular vote, at the very least they can’t ignore you entirely because every vote matters.
Bradford Deel is a professor and program director for the Political Science and History Program at the University of Charleston in Charleston, West Virginia. He is also a practicing attorney.
The coronavirus pandemic has forced elections officials to expand options for voters in November’s general election. This means you will have more ways to vote, including mail-in ballots and early in-person voting. But it also means many people have questions about how to vote. Here are answers to some common questions about voter registration, voting by mail, and early voting in person.
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REGISTRATION
How do I know if I’m registered?
You can check your registration status with the Secretary of State online.
How do I register to vote?
You can register online, by mail, or by visiting your county clerk’s office. You’ll have to provide a West Virginia driver’s license or ID card number, the last four digits of your Social Security number and your date of birth.
What’s the deadline for registration?
West Virginia’s registration deadline is October 13th.
EARLY VOTING IN PERSON
What are my options for early voting in person?
Early in-person voting in West Virginia begins on October 21st and ends on October 31st.
Where do I vote early — is it the same as my usual polling place?
Early voting locations are at a county courthouse, annex, or designated community location. You can find your polling place here. Be sure to check with your county clerks for times when polls will be open.
All voters can apply to vote absentee in the upcoming general election because of “medical reasons”. Additional eligibility requirements can be found here. The last day to request an absentee ballot is October 28th.
How do I request a ballot to mail in? What is the deadline?
You can request an absentee ballot online through West Virginia’s application portal. You can also print an absentee ballot application here, and return it to your county clerk.
What are my options for returning the ballot — do I have to mail it?
West Virginia voters can return their ballots by mail or hand deliver them to their county clerk office. If it is your first-time voting absentee in the state, you must send a copy of valid ID with your ballot. A form of valid ID could be a utility bill, bank statement, photo ID, government check, or paycheck.
What is the deadline for returning my ballot?
The county clerks must have absentee ballots by November 2nd or postmarked by Election Day and received by county clerks by November 9th.
ONLINE TOOLS FOR ABSENTEE BALLOTS
If you want to visit West Virginia’s absentee application portal, click here.
If you have additional questions about absentee voting in West Virginia, you can find many answers here.
Click here to fill out an absentee ballot application.
IN-PERSON VOTING ON ELECTION DAY
Where do I go to vote? Has my polling location changed?
West Virginia will have all polling locations open. You can find your polling location here.
Will I need identification?
West Virginia voters will need to have a valid form of identification to vote in-person on election day. It can be a photo ID like a driver’s license or college ID or it can be a non-photo ID like a voter registration card or Social Security card. Click here to see a full list of accepted identification.
How long will polling sites be open?
Polling locations will be open at 6:30 am and close at 7:30 pm on Election Day.
RESOURCES
Click here to visit the West Virginia Secretary of State’s website. For a fun take on election questions, comedian Stephen Colbert has this “Better Know a Ballot” segment on voting in West Virginia. And keep sending us your questions! If you are unsure of something or have concerns, then others probably do, too. Use the form below and we’ll try our best to get an answer.
This story is part of “America Amplified, Election 2020,” a public media initiative using community engagement to inform and strengthen local, regional and national journalism. America Amplified is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
