By Steven Allen Adams, for The Intelligencer of Wheeling
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — With just under six months until the May primary election, the State Election Commission approved a software update to move nonpartisan judicial races from the bottom of the ballot.
The commission and staff of the Elections Division of the West Virginia Secretary of State met by conference call Tuesday morning.
The software update for counties using the ExpressVote electronic voting system will allow nonpartisan elections of judges and Supreme Court justices to be moved from the bottom of the ballot to the middle above county races. The previous firmware kept nonpartisan races separated from partisan races at the bottom of the ballot.
“The statutory change in 2019 requires counties to program the ballot where the judicial races come above the county races,” said Donald “Deak” Kersey, legal counsel for the Secretary of State. …