Here is the petition for Writ of Mandamus we filed this morning with the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, asking them to force the West Virginia Governor to follow West Virginia law in choosing between the three qualified candidates presented to him by the Wayne County Republican Executive Committee to fill the vacancy in the legislature left by the resignation of Del. Derrick Evans:

Basically, the State Republican party has usurped the powers and authority of the Wayne County Republican voters, by attempting to take away their authority to choose a list of three qualified candidates to present to the Governor to fill the empty seat in the House of Delegates following the January 9 resignation of Del. Derrick Evans.

The Governor was presented with a list of three qualified candidates on January 14. He had five days to choose from the list. Instead the new Acting Chair of the West Virginia Republican Executive Committee took over the process, and created a new list – this time removing one of the three names and inserting a new name. This disenfranchises the Republican voters of the 19th Delegate District in Wayne County. The law is clear however, and places this power solely on the Wayne County Republican committee members – all duly elected by voters in their precinct.

Why is this important? Wayne County hasn’t had a Republican delegate in 100 years. Now that they’ve got one, the Governor is seeking to replace the choices of the voters with his own guy – who is an unvetted, unknown entity, since he didn’t run in the November campaign. Even more importantly, West Virginia law is clear and unambiguous that the local party (and this applies to all parties) gets to make the decision on the list of three to present to the Governor. This was put in place for a reason. To allow it to be thrown to the wayside is to allow a transfer of power from the people at the local level to some smoke-filled back room full of politicians and politicos.

Media Reports:

Lawsuit against Gov. Justice for new vacant 19th District Delegate candidate list

https://wchstv.com/news/local/petition-challenges-process-gov-justice-using-to-fill-vacant-wayne-county-delegates-seat

https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/politics/wayne-county-chairman-files-petition-says-justice-violating-law-with-new-delegate-nomination-list/article_6e26da0e-e319-56c5-bdd4-a5fdc129b9ec.html

https://www.newsandsentinel.com/news/local-news/2021/01/controversy-erupts-over-selection-process-for-new-delegate/

https://www.herald-dispatch.com/elections/amid-challenge-from-wayne-committee-justice-selects-booth-as-district-19-appointee/article_d89eb457-01ea-550b-a673-2364184d7437.html

https://www.wvnews.com/news/wvnews/west-virginia-gov-justice-appoints-joshua-booth-to-fill-wayne-county-house-seat/article_17a43714-ddc7-5b2b-9854-f594bbac87f3.html