Bill Text: WV HB2051 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to electing magistrates by division

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-01-12 - To House Judiciary [HB2051 Detail]

Download: West_Virginia-2011-HB2051-Introduced.html

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H. B. 2051

(By Delegates Frazier, Shaver, Givens and Moore)
[Introduced January 12, 2011; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary then Finance.]

A BILL to amend and reenact §50-1-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to electing magistrates by division.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §50-1-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. COURTS AND OFFICERS.
§50-1-1. Magistrate court created.
(a)There is hereby created in each county of this the state a magistrate court with such numbers consisting of the number of magistrates for each court as are hereafter provided that is authorized by the provisions of this article. There shall be elected by the voters of each county, at the general election to be held in the year one thousand nine hundred seventy-six, and in every fourth year thereafter, such number of magistrates as is provided in section two of this article. The filing fee for the office of magistrate shall be one percent of the annual salary. The term of magistrates shall be for four years and shall begin on January 1 of the year following the year of election. The filing fee for the office of magistrate shall be one percent of the annual salary.
(b) Beginning with the primary and general elections to be conducted in the year 2012, in every county there shall be, for election purposes, numbered divisions corresponding to the number of magistrates in each county. Each magistrate shall be elected at large from the entire county. In each numbered division of the county, the candidates for nomination or election shall be voted upon and the votes cast for the candidates in each division shall be tallied separately from the votes cast for candidates in other numbered divisions within the county. The candidate receiving the highest number of the votes cast within a numbered division shall be either nominated or elected, as the case may be.
(c) In counties where voting machines or electronic voting systems are used, the procedures of section eleven, article four, chapter three and section twelve, article four-a of said chapter three of this code shall apply respectively to the election of magistrates in the same manner as they apply to the election of members of the House of Delegates.
Notwithstanding the provisions of section seven, article five, chapter three of this code, for purposes of the primary election to be held in the year one thousand nine hundred seventy-six, the last day for filing certificates of candidacy for the office of magistrate shall be extended to the twenty-seventh day of February of that year.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that magistrates of a county shall run for election in numbered divisions similar to the election of circuit judges and family court judges.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.