PARKERSBURG - An apparent mixup with the secretary of state's office has resulted in the names of a man and a woman from Beckley appearing on Wood County's primary election ballot as candidates for Republican State Executive Committee for the Third Senatorial District.
"They (the secretary of state's office) certified the ballot that way so we have to go with it. My guess is, they (the candidates) may have meant to be in the Third Congressional District party committee race, but instead ended up as candidates for the Third Senatorial District," said Wood County Clerk Jamie Six. The Third Congressional District includes Beckley. The Third State Senate District consists of Pleasants, Roane, Wirt and Wood counties. Raleigh County is in the Ninth State Senate District.
No one at the secretary of state's office could be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon, and no contact information was available for Stan and Janet Norman of Beckley, whose names are on the ballot. Six said the ballot lists what county each committee candidate is from, so voters will see the Normans are from Beckley, Raleigh County.
Ballot commissioners, county commissioners and clerk's office personnel were present Tuesday as the ballot was publicly reviewed.
Six said he doesn't recall this ever happening before. There are 82 different ballot styles this time to accommodate all the various committee offices up for election. There are 24 different county districts for the Republican and Democrat parties.
Six noted although questions about residency requirements for county commissioners have been clarified, they must reside in the district when they file. There hasn't been the same clarification for other offices.
"There have been conflicting rulings regarding residency requirements, when you have to live in the district you are running for, so conceivably, I guess it's possible they (the Normans) could say they filed correctly if they were planning to reside in the Third Senate District, and I don't know if that would be permissible or not. That hasn't been clarified," Six said.
The clerk said Tuesday's public inspection of the ballot was the last in the process.
