MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A bill that would align elections is now before the state Senate Judiciary Committee after passing the House last Thursday.
House Bill 2592 would require counties and municipalities to hold all local elections during statewide elections. It passed the House 75-25.
The bill, which is sponsored by House Majority Leader Amy Summers, R-Taylor, was successfully amended by Delegate Joe Statler, R-Monongalia, and Delegate Guy Ward, R-Marion, to make provisions to sync up school levy elections before the requirements of the bill take effect.
Statler’s amendment makes provisions for school levies in Clay and Monongalia counties that are out of sync with the bill. Ward’s amendment looks at municipal elections and terms of office.
Kyle McAvoy, president of West Virginians for Common Sense, believes the changes the bill calls for would cut costs for elections and increase participation.
“It would save taxpayer money, but it doesn’t reduce our services,” McAvoy said. “It would actually make it easier for people to participate in the democratic process.”
Aligning elections will also provide candidates with a larger platform to communicate with constituents and could get more interested in public service, he said.
“To do this will greatly increase the likelihood of voting in elections and saves about $30,000 in Morgantown every election cycle and statewide it would save money across the board,” according to McAvoy.
Historically, voter turnout for city elections in Morgantown fluctuates between 10 and 15 percent. Even during the 2017 elections, when all seven seats on city council were contested, only 2,707 of the city’s 18,076 registered voters came out to the polls.
“How much more lost in the shuffle can you be? I mean, you’re only getting a 10 percent turnout in these elections. You’re not getting a true representation of the town,” McAvoy said.
Training and maintaining poll workers has been a continuing challenge for county and municipal courts especially in an aging state attempting to rebuild the population.
“You’re still going to have the same elections it’s just synching them up to enable us to have them at the same time to save money and it’s difficult to get poll workers, so it reduces the burden on the county clerk’s office.”
The 60-day legislative session ends Saturday night April 10.