CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — An appellate court has stayed a federal judge’s ruling that the way candidates are placed on ballots in West Virginia is unconstitutional.
That means the candidate order on general election ballots will almost certainly follow a 1991 law giving preference to the party of the incumbent president, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported
U.S. District Judge Robert Chambers issued an injunction ordering West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner to establish a new way to determine the order that candidates appear on ballots before the Nov. 3 general election.
Warner appealed, asking the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to stop the injunction, so that even if it agrees with the ruling, the state wouldn’t have to revamp the ballot until after the election.
The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by Dakota Nelson. The Democratic Party candidate for the state House seat in District 16 challenged the state law and Chambers wrote in his order that it was a partisan provision.
