West Virginia Senate Bill SB521

West Virginia 2025 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/18/25
• Refer: 2/18/25
• Engrossed: 3/12/25
• Refer: 3/13/25

Caption

Requiring party affiliations be listed for all candidates

Summary

SB 521 is an elections and judicial administration bill that would change how West Virginia elects its judiciary and certain local offices. The bill would require justices of the Supreme Court of Appeals, judges of the Intermediate Court of Appeals, circuit court judges, family court judges, and magistrates to be elected in partisan primary and general elections, rather than on the current nonpartisan judicial ballot system. It also revises ballot layout rules, candidate filing and certification rules, and election timing provisions to accommodate partisan judicial contests, while creating separate nonpartisan ballots for county school board elections and questions on the ballot. The bill also defines and adjusts campaign-period terminology, modifies how judicial candidates are treated under the Public Campaign Financing Fund, and preserves the continuing applicability of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals Public Campaign Financing Program. It further changes vacancy-filling and runoff-election procedures for judicial offices, including a runoff for circuit court judge elections if no candidate receives more than 30 percent of the vote. The text contains conforming amendments across multiple election and court statutes to align the code with the new partisan judicial election structure.

Impact

SB 521 would substantially amend West Virginia election law by reversing or replacing long-standing nonpartisan election rules for the state’s judiciary and magistracy. It would alter provisions in Chapter 3 governing primary elections, ballot design, candidate filing, vacancy elections, and the public campaign financing program, and it would make conforming changes in Chapters 50 and 51 to reflect partisan judicial elections and related ballot treatment. The bill would directly affect judicial candidates, political parties, county election officials, ballot commissioners, and voters participating in judicial and magisterial elections.

Sentiment

The available voting history suggests the bill had meaningful support in the Senate but also notable opposition. It passed the Senate 20-12 on March 12, 2025, indicating a divided chamber rather than broad consensus. The bill caption and structure suggest it is a significant policy shift, and the lack of committee transcript detail limits insight into debate, but the recorded vote shows the proposal was controversial enough to draw a substantial minority of no votes.

Contention

The main point of contention is the bill’s core policy change: moving judicial elections from a nonpartisan system to partisan primary and general elections. Supporters likely view the change as increasing voter information and aligning judicial elections with party-based electoral processes, while opponents are likely concerned about politicizing the judiciary and weakening judicial independence. Additional likely points of dispute include the runoff requirement for circuit court races, the redesign of ballots and election administration, and the bill’s treatment of public campaign financing for judicial candidates.