CHARLESTON — The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals found that four votes in a Harpers Ferry election that were contested should count.
Justice John Hutchison authored the court’s June 15 opinion in which the court partially affirmed and partially reversed Jefferson Circuit Court’s order. Justice Margaret Workman did not participate in the decision
“For the reasons set forth above, we affirm the circuit court’s order to the extent that it concludes that the four provisional ballots cast by Linda McCarty, George McCarty, Leah Howell, and Adam Hutton in the 2019 Harpers Ferry municipal election should be counted,” Hutchison wrote. “We reverse the circuit court’s order insofar as it affirms the Tribunal’s decision that Nancy Singleton Case lacked standing to participate in the election contest. This case is remanded to the circuit court for entry of a new order consistent with this opinion.”
Last November, Jefferson Circuit Court reversed, in part, an order declaring the results for a town council election by the Harpers Ferry Election Contest Tribunal following an election contest trial.
The court ruled that the tribunal made an error when it concluded that four provisional ballots cast during the Harper Ferry municipal election on June 11, should not be counted.
"The state Supreme Court affirms what we argued all along – that technical errors should not be used to deny someone the right to vote,” Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said in a statement. “Small town elections are the bedrock of our democracy, and I hope this decision underscores that those who fail to count a legitimately cast ballot run afoul of the fundamental underpinnings of our legal system."
West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner applauded the decision.
"In West Virginia, every voter counts, and every vote counts," Warner said in a statement. "I am pleased the Court upheld our State Code that says technical errors shall be disregarded and the votes shall be counted. That was clearly the case here where DMV and Post Office blunders led to the technical error."
Warner said officials throughout West Virginia in all levels of government should take need and hear the lesson the Supreme Court handed down.
"The paramount principle that election laws are to be construed in favor of enfranchisement has long been caselaw in West Virginia," Warner said.
The petitioners, Hardwick Smith Johnson, Charlotte Ward Thompson, Marjorie Flynn Yost and Barbara Humes argued that the circuit court erroneously substituted its view of the evidence to find that the four provisional ballots should have been counted.
The respondents, Nancy Singleton Case and Deborah A. McGee asserted that the circuit court’s order should be affirmed with respect to the finding regarding the provisional ballots.
The town held its municipal election on June 11 and the town council seats were recorded as Humes, 91 votes; Jay Premack, 87 votes; Johnson, 85 votes; Christian Pechuekonis, 84 votes; Thompson, 84 votes; Case, 82 votes; McGee, 81 votes; Yost 81 votes; and Howell, 15 votes.
McGee sought a recount on June 19, which was held on June 26 and there were no changes made to the results. The results were then certified on June 29. McGee and Case filed a joint petition to contest the results on July 8, claiming that four citizens of Harpers Ferry were denied the right to vote.
An election contest trial was held on Aug. 24 and the tribunal entered an order on Sept. 11 declining to count the provisional ballots of the citizens involved. The case then was appealed to the circuit court, and, ultimately, the Supreme Court.
“We reject the petitioners’ contention that the provisional voters were not duly registered to vote simply because their names were not in the Harpers Ferry poll book on election day,” Hutchison wrote.
Hutchison wrote that the provisional voters’ registrations were called into question on election day because their names were not in the Harpers Ferry poll book.
“However, the evidence presented during the election contest trial established that these four voters were duly registered to vote and were in fact residents of Harpers Ferry; their names were not listed in the Harpers Ferry poll book simply because of an erroneous designation in their residential addresses,” Hutchison wrote.
West Virginia Supreme Court case number 19-1018
