Tag: West Virginia Secretary of State

More Than 10,000 New Teen Voters Registered in W.Va. Last Year

More than 15,600 high school seniors in West Virginia registered to vote during the 2018-2019 school year.

The majority of those newly registered high school voters came out of Kanawha and Berkeley Counties – both seeing more than 1,000 young new voters, according to a news release from the Secretary of State’s Office.

Secretary of State Mac Warner said voter registration in most West Virginia high schools is a student-led effort and said this large number of new registrations is an “incredible accomplishment in such a short period of time.”

To date, a total of 128,704 West Virginians, of all ages, have registered to vote since 2017. Of those, 36,000 were high school seniors when they registered.

To see a list with the breakdown of high school voter registration by county during the 2018-2019 academic year, click here. The list is courtesy of the West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office.

Military Voters from 31 Countries Used Mobile App During Midterms, Warner Says

The West Virginia Secretary of State’s office has released information on the use of a mobile voting platform for overseas military voters.

The app, developed by Boston-based company Voatz, uses biometric identity verification and blockchain technology to secure the ballots. However, election and cybersecurity experts have expressed concerns about internet-facing voting systems, such as this one, being vulnerable to attack.

Of the state’s 55 counties, 24 made the app available to overseas military absentee voters in the general election pilot program.

According to a news release from the Secretary of State’s office, 144 qualified voters from 18 counties cast ballots using the mobile voting app during the general election.

State election officials say those voters were located in 31 countries across the globe.

As part of an earlier pilot program, 13 voters from two counties used the app to cast ballots from six countries in the May primary.

Secretary of State Mac Warner says an audit of the app and the mobile ballots will take two to three months.

Ex-Secretary of State Employees Settle Lawsuits Over Firings

Four people who sued West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner last year accusing him of wrongful termination have settled outside court for nearly $1 million total.

  Mark Atkinson is one of four attorneys representing the fired employees. He tells The Charleston Gazette-Mail the four are the first of 12 wrongful termination cases against Warner to be resolved.

Warner and press secretary Mike Queen couldn’t be reached for comment Monday morning.

The four people are among 16 employees fired shortly after Warner took office in 2017. They sued alleging he terminated them over their political affiliations.

Plaintiffs’ attorney Ben Salango has said the odds are astronomical that 15 of the employees Warner fired just happened to be Democrats, and 19 of the 22 new hires just happened to be Republicans.

Blankenship’s Third-Party Run Rejected By Secretary of State’s Office

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Former Massey Energy CEO and failed GOP candidate Don Blankenship has been denied ballot access as a candidate for the Constitution Party in the race for U.S. Senate. The rejection all but ensures a court battle between Blankenship and the Secretary of State over West Virginia’s so-called “sore loser” election law.

In a letter sent to Blankenship, Secretary of State Mac Warner and his office rejected Blankenship’s filing, which was completed Tuesday.

Blankenship has argued that two new subsections of the “sore loser” law are unconstitutional in that it does not provide equal access and did not go into effect until after the state’s May primary — effectively making that aspect of the law retroactive. Those subsections, effective June 5, 2018, clarified that a failed candidate on a ballot-qualified party cannot run in the general election for non-ballot qualified party.

Blankenship campaign representative Greg Thomas said Thursday they would fight the election law in court.

The Secretary of State’s office also notified Blankenship that of the 11,468 total signatures his campaign gathered as part of the certificate-nomination process, approximately 7,100 are presumed to be valid.

Blankenship finished third in the GOP’s U.S. Senate primary, losing to Attorney General Patrick Morrisey. As the state’s chief legal counsel, Morrisey has recused himself from the looming battle over the “sore loser” law — with the Secretary of State’s office hiring outside counsel.

Shepherd Hosts Hechler Screening

The Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education, Lifelong Learning Program and West Virginia Public Broadcasting proudly present “Ken Hechler: In Pursuit of Justice”, the story of the former U.S. Congressman, West Virginia Secretary of State, university professor, author, and environmental activist, who changed the face of West Virginia politics.   

This documentary traces the evolution of Hechler’s political philosophy to the progressive movement of the early 20th century and follows his commitment to public service and political office. With added insight from U.S. Senators Tom Harkin, George McGovern, and Robert Dole, and U.S. Representatives John Brademas and James Symington, the film highlights Hechler’s lifelong devotion to helping the citizens of the West Virginia and the nation. Russ Barbour and Chip Hitchcock, producers of the documentary, will participate in a discussion after the viewing.

The screening is Wednesday, April 5th at 6:30 p.m. at the Robert C. Byrd Center at Shepherd University and is free and open to the public.  Doors open at 6 p.m. Space is limited.  For more information or to RSVP click here.

Warner Says Trump is Right About Cleanup of Voter Registration

West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner says that President Trump is right to draw attention to the need to clean up voter registration files.In a…

West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner says that President Trump is right to draw attention to the need to clean up voter registration files.

In a news release, Warner said his office and the state’s county clerks need the financial and technical resources to expedite the clean-up of the voter files and to tighten up the voter registration process.

Warner said he welcomes President Trump’s interest in the process, particularly in places that have had a history of election fraud and irregularities. Warner said he would encourage the President to consider federal funding to assist West Virginia and other states to clean up voter registration.

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