CHARLESTON — Two elected West Virginia officials are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to protect election integrity while reviewing a case out of Ohio that questions a commonly used process to maintain the accuracy of voter lists.
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey recently signed on to a friend-of-the-court brief supporting similar methods used in West Virginia and 12 other states.
“Keeping voter lists up to date is crucial to ensuring the integrity of elections in West Virginia,” Morrisey said. “The process used by multiple states is completely in line with federal law and necessary in maintaining free and fair elections.”
West Virginia law requires counties to mail a confirmation notice to those persons who have not voted in any election during the preceding four calendar years, the period of which begins in the year following a presidential election, or who have not otherwise updated their voter registration. This procedure is aimed at keeping the voter rolls up to date by identifying those who may have moved without filing a forwarding address, among other reasons.
"West Virginia has already made great strides in cleaning up our voter rolls thanks to cooperation between our Office and county clerks," Secretary of State Mac Warner said. "We encourage the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the method our state and other states use to ensure clean and accurate elections. We are united in supporting my friend, Secretary Husted, in following the laws that provide clean elections."
The Attorney General successfully argued for the U.S. Supreme Court to review the lower court ruling earlier this year.
West Virginia joined the Georgia-led brief along with attorneys general from Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Utah.
U.S. Supreme Court case number 16-980