One of the Democrat candidates for West Virginia’s Supreme Court says she is feeling confident with just more than a week to go until the November General Election.
“It’s been a long race through the primary and the general, but I’m energized here because I can see the finish line,” Charleston Attorney Tish Chafin said on Thursday’s MetroNews Talkline.
“November 6th is coming up fast and so I’m just out there, meeting as many people as a I can and getting out to events every day.”
Chafin is one of four candidates for two seats on the Supreme Court.
Justice Robin Davis, the other Democrat candidate, is running for another 12 year term on the Supreme Court this year. The Republicans are Berkeley County Circuit Judge John Yoder and Allen Loughry, a Supreme Court law clerk.
“The polls look good. We’re following a campaign plan that we have in place that worked in the primary and I’m confident it will work in the general,” Chafin says of her chances.
“As I travel the state, I’m getting positive feedback from everybody, everywhere I go and I feel confident that I’m where I need to be, at this point, to finish in the top two.”
On the campaign trail, she has been pushing a proposed Balanced Court Initiative. It calls for a review from other justices if a recusal is requested and declined. Justices make their own recusal decisions now.
She has also offered, what she calls, the Transparent Court Initiative. It would require the public disclosure of communications between a litigant, with a case pending, and any judge overseeing the case.
Right now, that disclosure is only available through a Freedom of Information Act request that can then lead to drawn out litigation.
Chafin says there is more work to do to build on the public’s trust of the Supreme Court. She says, with some, the Court still has a poor reputation.
“I think that perception is still out there and I don’t think it has anything to do with the current members of the Court,” she said. “I think once that perception gets out there, we all have to work hard to change that and it doesn’t change overnight.”
Early voting started Wednesday in each of West Virginia’s 55 counties. It will continue through Saturday, November 3rd.
Election Day is Tuesday, November 6th.