A sign marks a polling place during the May primary election. (Lori Kersey | West Virginia Watch)
Republican candidate Craig Hart has won a Southern West Virginia Senate race affected by a ballot mishap in Mingo County.
The Associated Press called the district 6 race for Hart at 10:32 p.m. Tuesday night.
With 22,394 votes, Hart soundly won over Democratic opponent Jeff Disibbio’s 12,818 votes, with 83% of the votes counted.
Disibbio was left off Mingo County’s ballot beginning Wednesday, Oct. 23, when early voting started, until Monday, Oct. 28, when the mistake was corrected. The ballot instead listed Randy Fowler, who won the Democratic primary but was disqualified from running in the general election due to failure to file campaign finance reports. Approximately 700 people voted with incorrect ballots during that time.
A representative from the Secretary of State’s Office had said that if the race was decided by approximately 700 or fewer votes, that would be a “very valid reason” for Democrats to challenge the outcome.
Earlier Tuesday evening, the ACLU of West Virginia filed a lawsuit against Mingo County Clerk Larry Croaff asking a court to “conduct the election of a candidate for West Virginia’s 6th Senate District in accordance with their clear and established legal duty.”
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