LEWISBURG, W.Va. — A Kanawha County circuit judge is being asked to remove a candidate for the state’s 10th Senatorial District seat from the Nov. 8 General Election ballot because of a residency dispute.
The lawsuit, filed by Greenbrier County GOP Chairman Ben Anderson against Secretary of State Mac Warner, claims candidate Harry Lee Forbes, an Independent, should not be on the ballot because he lives in Summers County where sitting state Senator Jack David Woodrum lives.
State law prohibits senators in a multi-county district being from the same county. The 10th District covers Greenbrier, Summers, Monroe, Nicholas and part of Fayette counties.
Forbes is seeking the open 10th District seat against incumbent Stephen Baldwin, D-Greenbrier, Republican nominee Vince Deeds and Aaron Ransom, also an Independent.
Forbes was not on the ballot in the primary election.
Anderson said the Secretary of State’s Office should have noticed that Forbes lives in the same county as Woodrum. He said Forbes, whose address is listed as Forest Hill, West Virginia, should be removed from the ballot.
“We have about 11 days before early voting starts and so that would give counties enough time to reprogram the machines of if they have paper ballots to either reprint or put a sticker beside Mr. Forbes’ name stating he is ineligible,” Anderson told MetroNews Monday.
The lawsuit also asks that election officials in the 10th District be instructed to post signs at polling places about the Forbes situation.
There was also a ballot issue in a state senate race before the May primary election when Kanawha County Circuit Judge Duke Bloom ruled Andrea Kiessling, a Republican from Roane County, was ineligible because she hadn’t lived in the state long enough. The ruling came after the ballots were printed.
Anderson said he filed the 10th District lawsuit because the Secretary of State’s Office doesn’t have the authority to remove a candidate from the ballot. It has to come by court order.
Baldwin, the Senate Minority leader, said this puts Forbes in a tough spot.
“I don’t know how that works. We’re only a couple weeks away from the election and I think the ballots have already been printed,” Baldwin said Monday during an appearance on WJLS News Network’s Radio Roundtable. “We’ve got several (debates) coming up and ‘Meet the Candidate” events and this is happening at a very inopportune time for Mr. Forbes and voters really.”
Anderson supports Republican nominee Deeds in his attempt to unseat Baldwin but he said the lawsuit against Forbes isn’t about that.
“We filed this not having to do with how it may effect the outcome, which way those votes may swing because we firmly believe Vince Deeds is going to win, this is more about making sure the integrity of the process is upheld,” Anderson said.
The lawsuit has been assigned to Kanawha County Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers who has set a hearing for Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.