The coronavirus has upended all of our lives the last three weeks, and now it has upended our primary election, requiring the state to move the date and try new things ensure everyone can still safely vote.
Last week, Gov. Jim Justice signed an executive order moving the primary election – originally scheduled for Tuesday, May 12 – to Tuesday, June 9.
That means all the various deadlines and dates have moved as well. Early voting in your county will start Wednesday, May 27 through Saturday, June 6. Check with your county clerk for weekend voting times, but it's usually during business hours during the week.
You now have until Tuesday, May 19, to either register to vote, check the status of your voter registration, or make any updates. You can either call your local county clerk to find out how to do that, or you can go to the Secretary of State's GoVoteWV.com website to register or make changes online.
An emergency rule filed by the Secretary of State's Office allows all registered voters to apply for an absentee ballot and check the "medical reason" box due to the coronavirus outbreak. This week, county clerks are mailing postcard-sized applications to all registered voters. If you want to vote from home by absentee ballot, fill out the postcard and drop it in the mail. Your county clerk will then mail you a ballot. You have until Wednesday, June 3, to mail the application back.
Got any other questions? Call your county clerk or visit GoVoteWV.com.
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There are some out there who believe that every registered voter should be automatically mailed an absentee ballot whether they applied for one or not.
Never mind the fact that not every registered voter actually votes in an election. In the 2018 mid-term elections, only 48% of 1.2 million registered voters actually cast a ballot. In the 2018 primary, that dropped to 26% voter participation.
Never mind the cost of sending all registered voters ballots. The Secretary of State's Office told me it could cost as much as $900,000 for county clerks just to send out the mini absentee ballot applications to the 1.2 million registered voters in the state. Officials think the cost will come in lower and it will depend on counties. But that's just to send something the size of a postcard.
Sending a full-sized absentee ballot is not as straightforward as you might think. You're not just getting a ballot, but two envelopes. That's not counting the envelope your county clerk has to put those things in to send to the absentee voter. To send that to all 1.2 million registered voters, it would cost a lot more than $900,000.
While the state is helping shoulder the cost of the application mailings, your county clerk is likely having to pay upfront and get reimbursed on the back end. I imagine most county clerks, even with the help of county commissions, don't have the funds to mail everyone a ballot.
The other problem that Republicans and Democrats don't think about in primaries is those registered unaffiliated or not with a major party. If you're unaffiliated and vote in person, you have to ask for either a Republican or Democratic ballot, otherwise you'll be handed a non-partisan ballot. Unaffiliated voters have the option to choose on the absentee ballot application.
It's easy enough to send a Republican absentee ballot to a Republican voter. Same for a Registered Democrat. But how is a county clerk supposed to know what ballot to send to an unaffiliated voter? Unless a voter specifically requests a Democratic or Republican ballot, they're supposed to get the non-partisan ballot. In a normal primary election, voters have to request one or the other; the poll work or election official cannot ask or offer one or the other. Are county clerks supposed to mail all three ballots? That sounds like a terrible idea in a state known for voter fraud.
I wish everyone who was registered to vote actually voted. I wish that every U.S. citizen would register and vote. But that's a pipe dream. You're going to waste a bunch of paper and cost county governments money they need now to deal with the coronavirus.
If you want to vote from home due to the coronavirus, watch your mail for the absentee ballot application. Or be proactive and go to wvsos.gov and fill out an application now. The more people who vote absentee, the less of a risk there will be for coronavirus spread at the polls in June.
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Another concern, more from the right-wing side of things, is whether the primary election date can be legally moved. According to State Code 3-1A-6(e)(1), "The Secretary of State shall also have the power...to implement emergency procedures and rules to ensure that all eligible voters have the opportunity to cast a valid ballot and to uphold the integrity of an election in the event of natural disaster as declared by the Governor of this state, terrorist attack, war or general emergency, if any of which occur during or immediately preceding an election."
Some think that gives the Secretary of State the power to move the election date. It certainly gives him the power to reinterpret election law, which is why all registered voters can claim the medical reason checkbox because of the coronavirus to receive an absentee ballot. Warner has some smart attorneys and they must not think that gives him the power to move an election date established in state code.
The Governor, however, has broader authority to move the date through his emergency powers. State Code 15-5-6(C)(11) gives the Governor the authority to "perform and exercise other functions, powers and duties that are necessary to promote and secure the safety and protection of the civilian population."
It's that broad authority that gives Justice the ability to move an established election date. If you have a problem with this, good luck challenging it in court. As long as a valid public safety reason exists, most courts will throw this kind of case out.