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As Kanawha County Republicans head to the state Supreme Court in hopes of filling a ballot vacancy in the 35th District House race, state Democrats are lobbying the court to deny the appeal.

Thursday, the state Democratic Party filed a motion asking permission to speak at the court hearing, scheduled for Tuesday. The court will decide whether to allow Marie Sprouse-McDavid to fill the ballot vacancy left by Republican Delegate Suzette Raines withdrawal in August.

The state Election Commission ruled in August that Republicans could not replace Raines on the ballot, because the personal problems that she claimed did not qualify as the extenuating circumstances that would allow a replacement.

Republicans then waited 30 days to challenge the Election Commission and Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, citing state code that says you must give 30 days notification before filing suit against a state agency.

The Democrats, in their recent filing, say that 30-day notice is unnecessary in this case because it begins in the Supreme Court and because the law has an exception for cases where a delay would cause irreparable harm.

Because ballots without Sprouse-McDavids name have already been sent to military members and other absentee voters, the Democrats argue that the Republicans delay was inexcusable.

There was simply no basis for petitioners to legitimately conclude that they should sit idly by while the general election draws ever nearer, Kimberly Parmer, lawyer for the state Democratic Executive Committee, writes in the filing.

Republicans are asking Kanawha County to mail ballots with Sprouse-McDavids name on them to absentee voters and to notify those voters that prior ballots are void.

The Democrats also argue that the purpose of the 30-day notification is to provide more timely information, but Republicans refused to provide a copy of the appeal they intended to file.

Rather than petitioning this court immediately for emergency relief, [the Republican Party] instead served notice of its intent to file a petition, purportedly complying with a statute that is both inapplicable and unconstitutional as applied to cases filed with this court, Parmer wrote.

See more here:
Democrats ask W.Va. high court to keep Raines ballot slot empty