Currently, West Virginia defines “political party” to be a group that polled at least 1% for Governor in the last election. Two bills have been introduced in the 2012 session to expand this definition.
HB 3248, by Delegate Mike Manypenny (D-Taylor) says a group is a “party” if it polled 1% for any statewide office. SB 63, by Senator Clark Barnes (R-Randolph) makes the same change, and in addition, a group is a “party” as well, if it has registration of at least one-twentieth of 1%. If SB 63 were law right now, the Libertarian and Constitution Parties would be ballot-qualified. Currently the only ballot-qualified parties in West Virginia are the Democratic, Republican, and Mountain Parties. The Mountain Party is the West Virginia affiliate of the national Green Party.
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This is the third year in a row that these bills have been introduced. In the past, they have always become stuck in judiciary committees. On a positive note, both Delegate Manypenny and Senator Barnes are now members of their respective Judiciary committees, so hopefully they can advocate to shake their own bills loose this time.
Last year, activists with the Constitution Party of West Virginia spent Valentines Day at the state capitol lobbying for these bills and had positive conversations with many legislators. We are making phone calls to freshen their memories this year.