(LOOTPRESS) Senate President Craig Blair (R-Berkeley) released the following statement regarding this week’s decision in Kanawha Circuit Court on Senate District 8:
“This week’s outrageous decision by Judge Bloom is insulting to the very institution of free and fair elections. For an activist judge to issue an order that directly subverts the will of hundreds of voters is a terrifying precedent, and one that no West Virginian should tolerate. West Virginia’s election law clearly provides a process for challenging the certification of a candidate, and that deadline for challenge passed nearly three months ago. It is unconscionable that this judge ignored that established process already in code and choose to put his thumb on the scale to affect an election’s outcome.
Like all people who hold their right to vote sacred, I am deeply troubled by the precedent set by this activist judge. A judge has no right to unilaterally decide whether a candidate is fit for office. That is a job for the voters and the voters alone. The place for our courts to offer remedy in a dispute such as this is after a lawfully held election takes place, not in the middle of it. Every person who believes that we, the people, hold the final say over our elected representatives should share my disappointment and my outrage.
The actions of Judge Bloom will not be forgotten, and I am committed to placing into code clear, statutory provisions to prevent an affront to democracy like this from happening again in the State of West Virginia. Our citizens deserve the freedom of fair elections, and the freedom to choose their representatives, and we will not allow anybody to interfere with that freedom.
The widely recognized Purcell principle, which would prevent last-minute judicial intervention in elections, will be a top agenda item for the West Virginia Senate during next year’s regular session. Stolen elections are too common in this country, and we are not going to tolerate them in West Virginia.”
— Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley