CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A second candidate in the 4th District State Senate race has exited the race.
Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, had challenged the candidacy of Libertarian candidate Stephanie Butcher. Tarr contended that Butcher living in Mason County, the same county that the other 4th District Senator Amy Nichole Grady lives in, was a violation of state law.
Tarr successfully challenged the residency of Democrat Zach Abbott last week, removing him from being a viable candidate in the November General Election. Kanawha County Circuit Judge Kenneth Ballard entered an order stating that Abbott was disqualified from the race, as he lived in Kanawha County, not Putnam County.
Kanawha County Circuit Judge Carrie Webster held a hearing Friday afternoon on Tarr’s case against Butcher and the West Virginia Secretary of State Kris Warner, all over Butcher’s candidacy.
Webster pointed out that early voting has already begun across the Mountain State and ballots have been printed.
“They cannot change the ballot at this point, so a sign is being placed in the voting booths and at the voting places,” Webster said. “We have an order, similar to that one prepared by council for the Secretary of State and entered by Judge Ballard, that would simply say a sign is all that can be done at this point.”
Butcher didn’t dispute the fact that she was ineligible to run. She did question Tarr’s actions.
“What I don’t understand is why Mr. Tarr just pick up the phone and call me?” Butcher wondered. “He’s met me, he knows who I am. My phone number, it’s on the website. You can go to the Secretary of State’s office and anybody can see the phone number.”
Butcher said that she was unaware of the rule barring the occurrence of two senators getting elected from the same district.
“I looked at the state code,” Butcher said. “I was surprised because I looked at the state code and I couldn’t find anything making me ineligible. I didn’t realize it was in the Constitution. I was looking in the wrong place.”
“I’m not gonna speculate on what somebody hypothetically should have or could have or would have done,” Webster retorted. “I mean, the bottom line is even if he’d done that, it would have necessitated you to voluntarily withdraw or he would have enforced it.”
“Right, but he could have done that back in August,” Butcher said. “He could have done that in July. He could have done it in June. Well, I feel like Mr. Tarr waited deliberately until the Libertarian Party could not nominate a candidate that could serve and waited.”
“It’s shocking to me that he’d be afraid of losing to the Libertarian candidate, but that’s how it appears to me,” Butcher added.
The signage will go up at all polling places for the 4th District State Senate race, explaining that Butcher is ineligible. That signage will join similar postings, noting that Abbott is similarly ineligible.
“Honestly, if you knew me well — which you don’t, you just met me today — in this situation, my primary concerns are the taxpayer voting tax, all of the taxpayers, but the voters in the district,” Butcher told Webster. “So, my intention was never to deceive anyone. It was a mistake, an embarrassing mistake.”