West Virginia

The West Virginia legislature has passed, and the governor has signed, a bill that makes elections for the state's judges nonpartisan. Despite the new legislation, it is not possible to remove all traces of partisanship from judicial races. An additional consequence of the new law is that it effectively ends straight-ticket voting for judges.

In a unanimous ruling, the supreme court of appeals declared unconstitutional the matching or “rescue” funds provision of the state’s pilot public financing program. In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the matching funds provision of Arizona’s public financing program for legislative and executive campaigns.

Three justices of the supreme court of appeals recused themselves from hearing a constitutional challenge to the distribution of matching funds under the state’s pilot public financing program for supreme court races.

A former Democratic Party chairman filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block the distribution of matching funds under the pilot public financing program to a Republican supreme court candidate. Candidate Allen Loughry, who is the only one of four high court candidates to accept public funding and who is eligible to receive nearly $150,000 in “rescue” funds, filed a response to the suit.

The state election commission voted to postpone consideration of whether the “rescue funds” provision of the public financing pilot program for supreme court candidates survived a 2011 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down a similar provision in Arizona’s program, reasoning that the provision has not yet come into play in this year’s races.

In the May 8 Democratic primary, an incumbent justice and a county attorney won the nomination. According to campaign finance reports filed at the end of April, the winning candidates were also the biggest spenders. The two Democratic candidates will face two Republican candidates, one of whom opted for public financing, in November.

Of the races on the ballot in the May Democratic primary elections, the two supreme court races are the most expensive so far, with the six candidates having spent $1.4 million.

Republican Allen Loughry, who is running for the supreme court of appeals, is the only one of eight candidates to seek public campaign financing through the state’s pilot program. The public financing program provides $50,000 to uncontested primary candidates, minus what they raised to qualify, and $350,000 for the general election.

Two supreme court races are on the ballot in November, with two Republicans and six Democrats vying for the seats. As the May 8 primary approached, the candidates expressed differing views on judicial recusal, public financing for judicial campaigns, and the need for an intermediate appellate court.

Competing proposals for judicial recusal were offered by the chief justice and a supreme court candidate. One plan would allow the other justices to determine when a colleague should recuse, while the other would leave the decision to an independent person or group. The full court must approve a rules change.