During the three-day Special session of the legislatureWest Virginia’s Republican-led legislature passed a bill that would eliminate the requirement for political parties to hold statewide conventions to nominate presidential electors.
The change came after a Cabell County man filed a lawsuit last month against state Republican Party Chairman Matt Herridge, claiming the party’s plans to nominate its presidential electors at a summer meeting rather than a state convention violated state law.
Josh Keck, university professor and member of the Cabell County Democratic Executive Committeefiled the lawsuit on April 12 against Herridge and West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner, both in their official capacities.
“They had no legal defense,” Keck said of the legislature’s passage of the bill. “If they hadn’t changed the law, the only thing the judges could have done was rule against the West Virginia Republican Executive Committee and force them to follow the law to hold conventions, and they just don’t want to do that. That’s the only explanation, and I say that in all seriousness.”
Keck compared the change in the law to a “weaponization” of the government. He said it was disappointing that this was happening, especially during a special session of Parliament.
In a statement Friday, state Republican Party Chairman Matt Herridge said the bill was introduced in previous legislative sessions and the language in the code was “very outdated and unworkable.”
“Just as in the past, the party does all the work that a nominal convention would entail at its open executive meetings, which are composed of its 130 elected party representatives, including party manifesto and national convention delegates,” Herridge said in the statement.
“Parties enjoy rights of association under the First and Fourteenth Amendments that should be protected and accommodated by law,” he said. “The clarification protects all parties from frivolous litigation over any number of outdated and unachievable provisions in the old law. The law will now reflect something that is consistent with the vast majority of states and allows parties the discretion their members deserve.”
Governor Jim Justice called for the bill and set the agenda for the three-day special session, which focused primarily on budget issues. The bill had been awaiting the governor’s signature since Friday.
Eighty members of the West Virginia House of Representatives – mostly Republicans – and all 31 Senators present at the vote signed Senate Bill 1014Clarification of the procedure for the nomination of presidential electors by political parties.
The bill, which took effect upon passage, allows state executive committees to set the rules for nominating presidential electors, as long as those rules are consistent with national political party rules. If party rules do not provide procedures for nominating presidential electors, the bill states, they will be nominated at a state convention.
In the United States, the presidential election is decided by the Electoral College. Voters cast their votes for electors who pledge to vote for the winner of the majority vote in the state. West Virginia has four of the 270 electoral votes.
According to the process for nominating presidential electors, which is described in an information packet on West Virginia’s website, Republican Party websiteA steering committee was to nominate four presidential electors to be presented to the state executive committee and confirmed at its summer meeting on May 18.
Keck said the Republican Party changed its charter in 2020 when social distancing became vital to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“At this point, I can understand why you have to use a slightly different procedure,” he said. “But in 2024, that was no longer necessary.”
In the lawsuit, Keck argued that as a registered voter in the state who may wish to join the Republican Party, he would be harmed if “unlawfully nominated electors were placed on the ballot.”
Keck said his biggest problem with the Republican election process is that the party created a flawed election process by not following election law, as it did before the law was passed.
“One party in power doesn’t have to follow the law while the other, the minority party, does,” Keck said. “I don’t think that’s cool. That’s not appropriate. These conventions aren’t cheap. They take a lot of time.”
In a motion to dismiss filed May 17, Herridge called Keck’s lawsuit “an attempt to create political mischief.”
“Although Mr. Keck is not a member of the West Virginia Republican Party and has no personal connection to the selection of Republican presidential delegates (let alone any harm caused by them), he is asking this Court to interfere in the internal policies and procedures of that party,” the response said. “It should not take that bait.”
It went on to say that Herridge was convinced that he and the party were “substantially following the law” and that the party’s plans were consistent with previous practice in nominating presidential electors.
The response also points out that the Justice Department had included Senate Bill 1014 in the convening of a special session of the House, “so the disputed language will very likely be changed, rendering the case moot.”
The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Del. Mike Pushkin, chairman of the state Democratic Party, said the party will nominate its presidential electors during a state convention in Charleston on June 14 and 15.
“The election is public and open to the media. We believe that this is how we should choose our delegates to the convention. And this is how we will choose our electors, in broad daylight,” Pushkin said. “No matter what the Republicans do, we will continue to do it the way it should be done – publicly.”
Keck said he had problems with the wording of the fresh law. For example, it did not specify when electors must be nominated or confirmed.
“We don’t have a legal requirement as to who has to confirm these names to the political party, and we don’t know who they should confirm them to…” Keck said. “Technically, as it’s written now, these political parties can wait until November 4th to announce their names.”
Keck said he had no intention of pursuing the lawsuit further in delicate of the change in the law.
