West Virginia Republican executive committee members to weigh closing primary to independents
- Del. Marty Gearheart, a member of the West Virginia Republican Executive Committee, believes closing the GOP primary in May to unaffiliated voters could discourage those voters from considering becoming Republicans in the future. (Photo courtesy of WV Legislative Photography)
- State Senate Finance Committee Chairman and state Republican Executive Committee member Eric Tarr supports closing the Republican primary in May to independent and unaffiliated voters. (Photo courtesy of WV Legislative Photography)

State Senate Finance Committee Chairman and state Republican Executive Committee member Eric Tarr supports closing the Republican primary in May to independent and unaffiliated voters. (Photo courtesy of WV Legislative Photography)
CHARLESTON — For nearly 30 years, voters not affiliated with a political party in West Virginia have been able to vote in Republican primaries, but with residents already applying for absentee ballots, state GOP officials are considering limiting the May primary to just Republican voters.
The West Virginia Republican Executive Committee was set to consider a resolution at its winter meeting in Charleston Saturday to close the May 14 primary to independent and unaffiliated voters, but the meeting was postponed until Jan. 27. A possible amendment being considered could delay closing primaries to unaffiliated voters until 2026.
According to the Secretary of State’s office, State Code gives wide latitude to state political party executive committees. State Code 3-2-31 and 3-4A-20 allows political parties to determine whether unaffiliated voters can participate in primaries. The procedures for how that is done are left up to the individual parties.
Independents and unaffiliated voters have been able to participate in Republican primary contests since 1986, while the state Democratic Party opened its primary to independents and unaffiliated voters in 2007. As of the end of 2023, there are 286,981 registered voters in West Virginia with no party designation, accounting for 24% of the state’s 1.17 million registered voters.
Among the political parties in West Virginia, Republicans have held the majority since early 2021 and now have 469,099 registered voters, accounting for 40% of registered voters.

Del. Marty Gearheart, a member of the West Virginia Republican Executive Committee, believes closing the GOP primary in May to unaffiliated voters could discourage those voters from considering becoming Republicans in the future. (Photo courtesy of WV Legislative Photography)
This isn’t the first time the state Republican Executive Committee has considered closing the primary to independents and unaffiliated voters. But past resolutions have failed and several committee members have been on the fence. One of those members is state Senate Finance Committee Chairman Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, but he believes now is a good time to limit the primaries to Republican voters only.
“I can see the pros and cons on both sides, but I’m now on the side of that we should close primaries,” Tarr said Thursday morning.
Tarr said limiting the GOP primary to Republican voters would help protect elected incumbents from challenges led by political opponents with no connections to the party. Tarr cited the defeat of the late Wyoming County Republican state senator Sue Cline, who lost her primary to current state Sen. David “Bugs” Stover, R-Wyoming, in 2020. Tarr accused the teachers’ unions of encouraging members to switch to unaffiliated to support Stover, a retired teacher.
“Traditionally what has happened in Republican elections is that about two-thirds of the non-parties would vote in our primaries and about one-third would vote in the Democrat said of it. But what we’ve seen in a couple elections in the past is that ability to move that third that normally votes in the Democrat primary over a Republican primary has cost us seats at the local level and state races.”
Even before the Republicans led in voter registration in the state, voters had been increasingly choosing Republicans. There are Republican supermajorities in the West Virginia Senate and House of Delegates, the Governor and Board of Public Works are all Republicans, all but one of the state’s delegation in Congress is Republican, and the state has gone Republican in every presidential contest since 2000.
Tarr said that due to the state’s transition from a solid Democratic state for more than 80 years to a solid red state, many of the state’s elections are decided in the primary. He believes that closing the primary will encourage more voters to change registration to vote in Republican primaries, especially to vote for former Republican president Donald Trump.
“As we have President Trump coming in at the top of the ticket, you’re going to have a lot of people showing up that are just really bumping the door to try to get through to make sure they can vote for Trump just as fast as they can … If we close these primaries now, it’s going to have people have to make the choice of are they going to register Republican or are they going to remain non-partisan.”
Del. Marty Geartheart, R-Mercer, is also a member of the state Republican Executive Committee. But while he shares some of Tarr’s concerns, he is inclined to keep the Republican primary open to unaffiliated voters.
“I have mixed feelings on this particular type of circumstance,” Geartheart said Thursday following the House floor session. “I recognize when we open the primary up, we do put ourselves in the position of having positions that are maybe adverse to the Republican positions in the primary. The reality is, though, that by having the primary open, we are inviting those who are not registered to the Republican Party.”
The deadline to change or update voter registration information to vote in the May primaries is Tuesday, April 23, which can be done in person with county clerks or online with the Secretary of State’s Office at GoVoteWV.com. Early voting for the May primary runs from Wednesday, May 1, to Saturday, May 11, with primary election day on Tuesday, May 14.
Voters have already been able to submit applications for absentee ballots since Jan. 1, with the deadline for absentee ballot requests on Wednesday, May 8. And county clerks have until Tuesday, March 5, to estimate the volume of each party’s ballot for printing orders.
In a Jan. 16 letter to the Morgan County Republican Executive Committee, Chief Deputy Secretary of State Donald Kersey said the Secretary of State’s Office takes no stance on whether a political party should close its primary. However, Kersey warned that closing the primary this close to key deadlines and the election itself could cause issues.
Kersey said that one of the big issues would be education for county clerks, poll workers, and the public at large. Unaffiliated voters must request the ballot for the political party primary they wish to vote in. Closing the primary could create issues at polling locations if a voter is unaware of this change.
“The Office recommends that political parties be cognizant of the practical implications that closing a party’s primary election may have on the administration of an election,” Kersey wrote. “Substantially, those implications are … public education, including to those who have already submitted an absentee ballot application for the upcoming election … as well as to the 8,000-plus poll workers, which likely will be communicated during their mandatory poll worker training program.”
The closing of the primary could also affect significant races in the state, such as the Republican primaries for U.S. Senate, governor, and other statewide races with multiple GOP candidates. As of Thursday, there were five GOP candidates for U.S. Senate filing paperwork with the Secretary of State’s Office: Princeton resident Zane Lawhorn, Inwood resident Bryan McKinney, Martinsburg resident Janet McNulty, U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney, and Gov. Jim Justice.
Speaking Thursday during his weekly administration briefing from the State Capitol Building, Justice said closing the primary was a bad idea on short notice.
“From my standpoint, it’s late in the game,” Justice said. “Why give independents the opportunity to vote in the Democratic primary and not give them the opportunity to vote in the Republican primary? We’re just going to run independent voters over to the Democrats’ side. We’re going to take away votes to president Trump … it’s just awful late in the game.”
City Editor Evan Bevins contributed to this story
Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com