Voting Districts Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Senate Passes Bills On Elections, Cost Of Insulin

The Senate passed five bills Thursday related to elections in the state, as well as issues around diabetes.

The West Virginia Senate passed three bills Thursday related to elections in the state.

All three bills originated from the Secretary of State’s office as technical cleanups.

Senate Bill 620 makes just four changes to state code that would increase the maximum number of registered voters per precinct, as well as the distance between polling places.

Sen. Charles Trump, R-Morgan, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the bill’s lead sponsor, said the bill increases the maximum number of voters in an urban precinct from 1,500 to 2,500, and allows for greater consolidation of precincts.

“There’s also authority under this bill for counties, county governments, county commissions to consolidate precincts. But there are limitations on the geographical distance,” Trump said. “The consolidated precinct cannot contain more than 5,000 total – that’s up from 3,000 registered voters – and under existing law, there’s a one mile radius limit. This would expand that to five miles. It’s all permissive. It would be up to the county commissions to decide whether or not to do that when they exercise the statutory authority of drawing and configuring the voting precincts in their respective counties.”

During discussion of the bill in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 17, Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, expressed concern that the consolidation of polling places the bill allows would create undue burdens on voters.

“I think it’s our job to make voting easier for our constituents, not to add what I think could be a cumbersome task,” he said. “I get that you’ll move the machines to one precinct, if you consolidate. I still think there could be bottlenecks at check-in. It would appear that we are doing things to make it more difficult for the voter.”

The bill ultimately passed on a vote of 27 to 7. All three Democratic senators were joined by Republican senators Jason Barrett of Berkeley, Laura Chapman of Ohio, Patrick Martin of Lewis and Ben Queen of Harrison in voting against the bill.

The Senate also passed Senate Bill 631, which would facilitate the state’s use of federal money from the Help America Vote Act in federal elections. Also known as HAVA, Trump said the bill was passed by Congress after the 2000 presidential election to help facilitate vote counting in states.

“As the technology of voting machines has become more advanced, they become more expensive. And so in West Virginia, the voting machines that are used by the 55 counties are purchased with combinations of county monies and federal monies,” he said. “This will allow the secretary of state to utilize federal monies that come into the secretary of state’s possession for that purpose.”

Senate Bill 631 also extends the deadline for when county clerks can accept voter registrations on the final day of registration by a few hours, from close of business to midnight.

Senate Bill 644, which aims to clarify the procedure for contested elections, also passed.

“In short, what this bill does is it moves to the courts the place where election contests occur,” Trump said. “If there’s an election contest from a municipal election, the current law is that it’s decided first by the mayor and council. Contests of elections involving the county and district contests, current law is that they’re decided in the county court. This moves all that to circuit court.”

All three bills now go to the House of Delegates for consideration.

Support For Diabetics

The Senate also took up two bills to address issues around diabetes in the state.

Senate Bill 195 would allow a licensed healthcare provider to prescribe ready to use glucagon rescue therapy in a school, or in a school district’s name, to treat severe hypoglycemic episodes.

The bill also sets forth procedures for administering glucagon, including the requirement that a school nurse approve its administration, and authorizes school personnel to receive training on assisting students in diabetes care and how to identify and react to a student experiencing a diabetes related emergency.

Senate Bill 577 would limit the cost sharing for a covered prescription of insulin to a total of $35 for a 30-day supply, and $100 for a 30-day supply for covered diabetic devices.

Senate Health and Human Resources Chair Sen. Mike Maroney, R-Marshall, said the bill would apply to West Virginians that currently have private health insurance.

“Our bill applies to private insurance, the 20 percent of West Virginians that have commercial insurance, roughly. That’s what this bill applies to,” Maroney said. “Medicare already has it. PEIA has similar ranges. I can’t answer Medicaid.”

The Inflation Reduction Act capped the cost of insulin at $35 per month for Medicare beneficiaries starting in 2023.

Maroney said a similar bill passed the Senate last year but failed to complete legislative action.

Both bills passed and now head to the House of Delegates for consideration.

Shift To Single-Member Districts Causes Confusion In Some Precincts

On Nov. 8, West Virginians will vote in new districts after the state redistricting in 2021. For some voters, it will be the first time they elect only one delegate to the House.

West Virginia was one of 10 states to still use multi-member districts in the House of Delegates. Monongalia County’s five member, 51st district was the largest in the state.

The passage of House Bill 4002 in 2018 required West Virginia to create single-member districts. During the 2021 redistricting process, the state created 100 single-member districts, doing away with the previous mix of 67 districts.

Carye Blaney is the county clerk for Monongalia County. She says her office saw some confusion about the new districts during the primary election earlier this year.

“The biggest question that the voters had, from seeing the single-member districts was, ‘Where were the rest of the candidates?’” Blaney said. “Having that many candidates and then going to single-member districts was a big change for our voters.”

Blaney says despite the exposure during the primary, her office is still answering questions about the district change in the leadup to the general election, when more voters are likely to participate. She says education efforts have been ongoing.

“We have been trying to increase our voter awareness and our education around these changes to the ballot all summer,” Blaney said. “We’ve been running the sample ballot, of course, on our website and providing all that information.”

Blaney says redistricting, which by law must be completed every 10 years to account for changes in population, is always a challenge. She says that while the shift to single-member districts added to the complexity of the process, voters seem positive about the change.

“I think that voters like the idea that the candidates that they would be voting for on their ballot would be representing their particular area,” Blaney said. “You would tend to think that if you were in a single-member district, that you would recognize the name, and would know the candidate. Their kids would go to school together, they would see them at different community functions.”

Kayla Young is one of four delegates from the old, multi-member 35th district in Kanawha County. She is now the democratic candidate in the new 56th district, and similar to Blaney, acknowledges that the change has caused confusion for voters. But Young says the confusion stems from the state using multi-member districts in the first place.

“There aren’t a lot of multi- member districts,” she said. “It’s kind of been confusing to me that some of them have been multi-member, and some haven’t. I don’t know how it could have gone better, but I do think it is somewhat confusing.”

Despite the confusion, Young says she is excited for the opportunity to serve a single-member district.

“I’m glad that we’re moving to single-member districts,” she said. “I think it’s going to be better representation for people, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Young’s race has her running against another incumbent, Republican and fellow delegate for the 35th district, Andrew Anderson.

Anderson was appointed by Gov. Jim Justice in August after Del. Larry Pack resigned to join Justice’s office as a senior advisor. Anderson did not return our request for an interview in time for this story.

Young says the biggest change for her as a delegate will be the smaller, more manageable number of constituents.

“It’s been interesting for me coming from a multi-member district to a single-member district,” she said. “I’m used to talking to about 85 to 90,000 people and now I need to talk to about 18,000 people.”

The text of House Bill 4002 begins by stating,“Single-member districts best exemplify the principle of one person, one vote”. Voters will put that to the test come Tuesday.

W.Va. Primary: Incumbent Face-Offs, Redistricting And Party Switching

Redistricting in West Virginia has led to some House and Senate incumbents running against each other on May 10th.

Incumbent Chad Lovejoy, D-Cabell, and Ric Griffith, D-Wayne, are colleagues and friends. Lovejoy, a third term delegate and Cabell County attorney, said this race is a bit troubling.

“It’s a bummer,” Lovejoy said. “The truth is, Rick’s a good friend of mine. He’s a good Democrat. He’s a good delegate. And it’s just unfortunate, but it is what it is.”

Griffith, who owns a Wayne County pharmacy, is completing his first term in the House. He said running against Lovejoy is disheartening.

“I care deeply about serving as does Chad,” Griffith said. “And so we’re just gonna have to face this and see what happens. But it’s an unfortunate circumstance.”

Both candidates were asked to explain some key issues they think need the West Virginia Legislature’s immediate attention. They said economic development with job creation and retention topped their lists.

Lovejoy expressed the importance of stewardship with all the federal funds becoming available.

“The federal monies from the infrastructure bill, the American rescue plan, there’s going to be a lot of decisions made as we go forward on how this money is going to be used in West Virginia,” Lovejoy said. “And a lot of that is going to be appropriated by the legislature. So I want to make sure that our area has a seat at the table.”

Griffith said tourism is driving much of the state’s economic development, but he said you can’t promote West Virginia without cleaning it up. He has a plan to clear littered, unsightly homes by offering incentives first, penalties second.

“I think we ought to have a fund that creates an ability to go to a poor person or just a negligent person’s home and say, okay, we will fine you,” Griffith said. “But you gotta clean this up. We’ll help you haul it off and if not, you will be fined.”

The entire 100 member House of Delegates is up for election. More than half the incumbents have no opposition in the May primary.

Half of the 34-member Senate is up for election. Republicans hold a 23-11 supermajority in that chamber. Several of the districts were realigned during redistricting, but the total number stayed the same.

A number of Senate primary races feature incumbent vs. incumbent, candidates switching political parties, candidates moving from house to senate and a former U.S attorney running for state senate.

They include:

District 1: Sen. Owens Brown, D-Ohio, and former Del. Randy Swartzmiller

District 3: Sen Mike Azinger, R-Wood and Del. John Kelly, R-Wood

District 7: Former U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart is running against Chad McCormick in the republican Primary.

District 9: Sen. Rollan Roberts, R-Raleigh, and current Del. and former Democrat Mick Bates, R-Raleigh;

District 13: Former Senate Democrat Mike Oliverio plans to seek office again, this time as a Republican and fellow Morgantown resident Barbara Evans Fleischauer, a longtime House Democrat. Both have primary opposition.

WVPB and the Secretary of State’s office have more information on the West Virginia Primary and casting your vote.

Voters in Kanawha County Town Cast Ballots in Wrong District

Numerous residents in a Charleston-area town have been voting in the wrong state Senate district for the past four years.

Based on county precinct maps, Malden should be split into two precincts, Precinct 123 and Precinct 115. But Kanawha County Clerk Vera McCormick confirmed to The Charleston Gazette-Mail that most Malden residents have been placed in Precinct 117, with registrations spanning back to 2012.

It is unclear how many registered voters in Malden have voted in the wrong race over the past four years.

Delegate Larry Rowe of Kanawha County estimates there are nearly 600 people who live in Malden.

The county is not sure how the error occurred. McCormick says it could stem from the consolidation of precinct lines as populations have shrunk in the eastern part of Kanawha County.

Kanawha Officials to Vote on Voting District Problem

Kanawha County officials will hold a vote to try to fix a district irregularity that places about 130 people in two delegate districts.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that the county commission will vote on the issue during its next meeting on July 7.

The commission will discuss if all of Precinct 240 is located in Delegate District 35, as state code suggests, or if some of the area is located in Delegate District 36, as Census data shows.

Officials discussed the issue during a public hearing Tuesday, but there was no consensus.

Some argued that the county should follow the Census blocks to create Precincts 240A and 240B for the people who should be in District 36. Others argued that people who were placed in District 35 should remain in that district.