West Virginia § 3-5-20 - 3-5-20. Election contests and court review.

§ 3-5-20. 3-5-20. Election contests and court review.

Any candidate for nomination for or election to an office to be filled by the voters of the state or any political subdivision thereof or any candidate for membership on any political party executive committee, may contest the primary election before the county court of the county in which any primary election procedures, practices or results may be in issue. The procedure in such case shall be the same as that governing the contest of a general election by candidates for county offices or offices in magisterial districts. The decision of the county court upon such contest may be reviewed by the circuit court of the county and by the Supreme Court of Appeals of the state. Wherever practicable, the circuit court, on review, may, by order entered of record, consolidate and hear together any such primary election cases arising in one or more counties of the circuit, and the Supreme Court of Appeals, on further review, may likewise consolidate and hear together any such cases whenever considered practicable by the court so to do.

Any action of a political party executive committee in the discharge of any of the duties imposed upon such committee by this article, or of any board of election officials in conducting and ascertaining the result of the primary election, or of any board of canvassers in canvassing and certifying the result of the primary election for the county, may be reviewed by the circuit court of the county, upon the petition of any candidate, political committeeman or delegate voted for at such primary and affected adversely by the action of such committee, board of election officials, or board of canvassers. From the judgment of the circuit court in any such proceeding, an appeal shall lie to the Supreme Court of Appeals of the state.

Any such contest, or petition for review, of a candidate for a nomination not finally determined within ten days next preceding the date of the next election after the primary, or of a candidate for delegate to any convention within ten days next preceding the date fixed for holding the convention, shall stand dismissed, and the person shown by the face of the returns of the primary election to be nominated for any office shall be entitled to have his name printed upon the regular ballot to be voted at the election, and the person shown upon the face of the returns to have been elected as a delegate to any convention shall be entitled to sit in such convention as a delegate.