Approximately 670 voters in Mingo County voted early on ballots that didn’t include a Democratic candidate for the West Virginia Senate. (Lori Kersey | West Virginia Watch)
A Democratic candidate for the West Virginia Senate was mistakenly left off the ballot in Mingo County, a party official and the candidate said Tuesday.
Jeff Disibbio, president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of the Two Virginias, was nominated in August by the state Democratic party to run for the sixth district of the Senate, but the Mingo County Clerk did not update the ballot to include his name, said Mike Pushkin, chairman of the state Democratic Party.
The West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office removed Randy Fowler, a Democratic candidate who ran in the primary, from the ballot because he did not file required campaign finance reports, Pushkin said.
Early voting in West Virginia has been underway since Wednesday, Oct. 23. The clerk’s office had corrected the ballot as of Monday, but does not plan to allow the approximately 670 voters who have already voted to vote again with a corrected ballot, Pushkin said.
In a statement, Pushkin called the ballot error “unacceptable” and said the party would “exhaust every legal option to ensure the integrity of our democratic process is upheld.”
“Mistakes like this rob voters of their chance to reflect their will at the ballot box, and it’s unacceptable,” Pushkin said in the statement. “This election is about ensuring that every voice is heard and every choice is honored. While mistakes happen, it’s crucial that immediate steps are taken to correct this and ensure that voters in Senate District 6 can vote for the candidates who rightfully qualified to be on their ballot. Elections should be about the people’s voice, not about administrative errors.”
A spokesman for the Secretary of State’s Office said the office was aware of the problem in Mingo County but referred a reporter to the Mingo County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, a representative of which said no one was available to comment.
The Mingo County Clerk’s Office did not immediately return a call seeking comment. A post of the Mingo County Commission’s Facebook page Monday said that early voting had been temporarily suspended due to a technical error, but that issues were resolved and voting reopened.
This is not the first time this year ballot issues have been reported in Mingo County’s District 6 race. Earlier this year, Republican senator Chandler Swope challenged the results of the primary election after losing to challenger Craig Hart. Swope argued that the vote totals reported by the county were incorrect and the “extraordinarily high Republican turnout” were because some registered Democrats were allowed to vote in the Republican primary.
In a statement that was part of the filing at the time, the Secretary of State’s office said that a review of voting records in the matter found “a lack of compliance with the election laws that pertain to the proper receipt and procedure for facilitating voting at the precinct level in a primary election.” Swope withdrew the challenge with assurances that the Secretary of State’s Office would work to better train Mingo poll workers and election officials, his filing says.
In a statement on Tuesday, Disibbio said that, like the issues reported during the primary election, his name being left off the general election ballot directly benefits Hart, his Republican opponent.
“It is difficult to conclude that these two actions were simple mistakes,” he said in the statement. “A more likely explanation is that there are Mingo County officials who are willing to do whatever it takes to deprive Mercer County of a State Senate seat and transfer that seat to Mingo County.”
He added that he would take “all necessary actions available to ensure we have a free and fair election for State Senate throughout all the counties of District 6, including Mingo County.”
Separate from the ballot error in Mingo, Wayne County officials say an “isolated issue” with precinct 62 in the House of Delegates 27th district race led to the ballots of 34 early voters and 19 absentee voters being spoiled, according to a news release from Mingo County Clerk Craig Evans. Affected voters from precinct 62 were contacted by phone or certified mail and given the option to early vote again, vote on Election Day at their home precinct or request an absentee ballot, the news release said.
As of Tuesday, 15 affected early voters had returned to cast a correct ballot, the news release said.
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