On May 12, voters will elect officials to make decisions about their schools and courts and, in some cases, their cities.
Regardless of your political affiliation, your ballot will include candidates for Board of Education, courts and, depending on where you live, municipal positions like mayor and city council.
While the primary election will also determine who represents political parties in the November election, these nonpartisan positions, some of which come with years-long terms, will all be decided on Tuesday.
Here are the nonpartisan races to look for on your ballot this May:
West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals
On Tuesday, West Virginians will elect two judges to the highest court in West Virginia.
Last year, Gov. Patrick Morrisey appointed two attorneys to fill vacancies left on the five-member West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, after Justice Beth Walker retired and Chief Justice Tim Armstead passed away.
Morrisey appointed Thomas Ewing, a Fayette County Circuit Court Judge, to serve the remainder of Walker’s term. He also appointed Gerald Titus, a Charleston-area attorney, to serve the remaining six years of Armstead’s term.
West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals judges serve for 12 years.
Titus is running to serve the rest of his term, which expires in 2032. In his race he faces multiple challengers. They include former delegate and current circuit court judge Todd Kirby, family court judge Laura Faircloth, retired judge H.L. Kirkpatrick and Wheeling attorney Martin Sheehan.
Delegate Bill Flannigan, R-Ohio, has chosen not to run for his seat again. Instead, he is challenging Ewing to serve the remainder of Walker’s term expiring in 2028.
West Virginia Intermediate Court of Appeals
The West Virginia Intermediate Court of Appeals was established in 2022 to offload cases from the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. Three judges sit on the panel, where they hear appeals of all manner of civil cases including worker’s compensation and discrimination cases as well as divorce and child custody matters.
Then-Gov. Jim Justice appointed each of the three original judges to the court, but elections for each of the justice positions are staggered two years apart. Voters elected Ryan White the first judge to serve a full 10-year term on the bench in the May 2024 primary.
This year, Intermediate Court of Appeals Chief Justice Dan Greear is seeking election to a full term. His challenger is Kanawha County Family Court Judge Jim Douglas.
Lower Courts: Magistrate, Family and Circuit
Voters chose most magistrates and judges last year in the 2024 election.
However, since then, vacancies have arisen in different parts of the state, which means voters in some counties will be deciding who will fill the rest of an unexpired term.
Magistrates serve four-year terms. They typically set bail after an arrest, handle speeding tickets and hold trials in misdemeanor cases. Unlike most judicial positions, magistrates do not need to hold a law degree.
Voters in Berkeley, Brooke, Cabell, Greenbrier, Hancock, Kanawha, Logan, Monongalia, Monroe, Morgan, Ritchie and Summers counties will be deciding magistrate races this year.
Circuit court judges oversee felony cases and most civil suits. Unlike magistrates, circuit court judges are elected by a district, which sometimes consists of a singular county, and sometimes can be a handful of counties lumped together. They serve an eight-year term.
Voters in Cabell, Putnam, Mercer and Fayette will decide circuit court races this year.
This year, voters in Boone and Lincoln will elect a Family Court Judge, who will preside over divorces, custody disputes and other family matters.
Board of Education
Members of the Board of Education will be elected in all counties this May. They oversee the public school system in their county, setting levies (special property taxes) to fund education and hiring and firing key personnel.
School board members are elected to four-year terms.
Conservation District Supervisor
Most counties will also have conservation district supervisor elections. Supervisors serve four-year terms as officers for the West Virginia State Conservation Agency, which oversees the state’s water, soil and land. Critically, the agency also oversees the network of small earthen dams that protect communities across the state from flooding.
Municipal Elections
Some city elections will be decided this May, too.
While large cities like Charleston have partisan races, meaning there’s a Democrat and a Republican duking it out in November, many towns in West Virginia have nonpartisan races that get decided this month.
Elections in cities with nonpartisan seats include city council, mayor, the town recorder and, in a couple of cases, municipal judges.
The following counties contain cities with nonpartisan municipal elections on this Tuesday’s ballot: Hancock, Hardy, Harrison, Jackson, Kanawha, Mason, Monongalia, Nicholas, Ohio, Ritchie, Taylor, Upshur, Wayne, Wirt, Wood and Wyoming.
If you have any questions or want to know who to vote for, check out the Mountain State Spotlight Voter’s Guide to see who is running in your community.
