FUTURE ISSUES — Del. Joe Funkhouser said that House Bill 2702 would help address future issues involving vacancies in congressional, statewide, legislative, and magistrate seats. -- Photo Courtesy/WV Legislative Photography

CHARLESTON — The West Virginia House of Delegates passed a pair of bills Monday; one dealing with vacancies in partisan elected offices in the state, and one expediting the process to move certain voters to inactive status.

The House passed House Bill 2702, relating to vacancies in offices of state officials, in a 94-0 vote Monday morning. The bill now heads to the state Senate.

HB 2702 modified the procedures in State Code for filling vacancies at the congressional level, statewide elected offices, the Legislature, county officials, and magistrates.

The bill mandates that appointments to fill vacancies in partisan elected offices must be made from the political party of which the person vacating the office was affiliated at the time of the previous election for that office. Any person appointed to fill a partisan vacancy must have been a member of that political party for at least one year prior to the occurrence of the vacancy.

“This provides uniformity throughout the code, clear and consistently, and it provides for the will of the voters, in short, in regards to partisan vacancies that occur,” said Del. Joe Funkhouser, R-Jefferson, when explaining the bill on the House floor.

While the bill is not retroactive, the provision is designed to address the issues that arose in January regarding which party was to fill the vacancy in the 91st District House of Delegates seat. Gov. Patrick Morrisey appointed Ian Masters to that vacancy after the House adopted a resolution on Jan. 8 declaring the seat vacated by Joseph de Soto, who won election as a Republican but switched parties to the Democratic Party.

The House adopted House Resolution 4 after de Soto was unable to take his oath of office in the House chamber as required by the state Constitution after he was charged in December with making terroristic threats against fellow Republican House members, resulting in de Soto being on home confinement and protective orders granted on behalf of two lawmakers barring de Soto from the Capitol Building.

HR 4 states that due to the seat being forfeited by de Soto, the seat remains a Republican seat despite de Soto’s party switch and the vacancy must be filled by Morrisey appointing a Republican. Otherwise, State Code requires legislative vacancies to be filled by the governor from a list of three qualified individuals submitted by a political party executive committee of the same party of the office holder.

The Democratic Party originally filed a lawsuit against Morrisey and House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, but an attorney for Hanshaw filed a notice of automatic stay, which delays lawsuits against lawmakers and legislative officials during a regular or special session. The original case is stayed until after May 12, which is 30 days after adjournment of the legislative session on April 12.

A second lawsuit filed by the Democratic Party regarding the filling of the 91st District vacancy was dismissed by the West Virginia Supreme Court last week for not giving a 30-day notice of the party’s intent to file the suit with the Governor’s Office. Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, said he would vote for the bill but accused his fellow lawmakers of trying to change the law after the fact.

“I am the lead plaintiff in this case regarding this law that’s now being changed,” said Pushkin, the chairman of the West Virginia Democratic Party. “Being a member of the minority party here has its challenges. We learn the rules. We play by the rules. We don’t have the numbers to just change them in the middle of the game.”

HB 2702 would also allow the governor to appoint a temporary acting official to perform the duties of Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer, Attorney General, or Commissioner of Agriculture until the vacancy is filled by formal appointment.

For magistrate vacancies with an unexpired term of more than two years, the bill mandates that the vacancy will be filled by a subsequent nonpartisan judicial election held concurrently with the next primary or general election. Circuit judges or chief circuit judges would also be allowed to fill prospective magistrate vacancies due to upcoming resignation or retirement.

The House also passed Senate Bill 487, removing ineligible voters from active voter rolls, in a 84-9 vote split along party lines, with the entire Democratic House caucus voting against the bill. The bill now heads to the governor’s desk.

SB 487 would reduce the period of voting inactivity from four years to two years, meaning that voters who haven’t voted in any election during the preceding two calendar years and who haven’t updated their voter registration records would receive a confirmation notice from their local county clerk’s office and be moved to inactive status.

Inactive voters can become active voters again and return to the active voter registration file if an application is received to update the voter’s registration or to vote in any election while they remain on the inactive list. Voters who remain on the inactive list during a period beginning on the date of the notice and ending on the day after the date of the second general election for federal office occurring after the date of the notice must have their voter registration file deleted.

“As an example under this bill…the current law would not allow a voter to be purged from the rolls if they had not voted in this most recent election until 2032,” explained House Judiciary Committee Chairman JB Akers, R-Kanawha. “If this bill were to pass, the new deadline under this most recent election would be the year 2030, again six years instead of eight.”

Maintenance of voter registration files is a responsibility of local county clerks, though the Secretary of State’s Office maintains a statewide voter registration database and assists county clerks in determining the eligibility of voters.

The Secretary of State compares voter registration data records across counties, with the Division of Motor Vehicles, the state registrar of vital statistics, and other state agencies to identify voters who may have moved or are deceased. Voter records are compared with U.S. Postal Service’s change-of-address information.

County clerks then mail confirmation notices to voters identified as potentially having moved. The notice is sent to the new address from the USPS, or the old address if a new one isn’t available. Voters who don’t respond to the confirmation notice or update their registration by Feb. 1 are designated as inactive. Pushkin said the bill could be confusing for some voters who only vote in presidential elections.

“I do see this causing some confusion among the voters, especially low-propensity voters who tend to only vote every four years,” Pushkin said. “I get it, what it’s trying to do, but I think it’s also going to lead to people showing up to vote and realizing that they are no longer registered.

It will keep people, some people, from voting.”