West Virginia Secretary of State

Description

The West Virginia Secretary of State is an elected office within the West Virginia state government. The secretary of state is responsible for overseeing the state's election process, including voter registration and election results reporting. West Virginia is one of only a handful of states that does not have a lieutenant governor. The secretary of state assumes many of the roles traditionally reserved for the lieutenant governor. The West Virginia Secretary of State is the smallest constitutional office in the state - physically, fiscally, and in terms of the number of staff. The duties of the office, though, are extensive. The primary responsibility of the secretary is to serve as the chief election officer. The "work horse" of the office is the business and licensing division, which registers, licenses, and keeps a database of all businesses, corporations, charities, notary publics, private investigators, and sports agents operating within West Virginia. The secretary also files public notices of all state agency meetings, sends official documents on behalf of the governor, and certifies gubernatorial proclamations by affixing the state seal and their signature to official documents. The salary for this office is $95,000/year.

Application Guidelines

To file for this position follow these three steps: 1) Contact the West Virginia Secretary of State Elections Division to confirm that your registered address qualifies you for the position you intend to run for, and that you meet other office specific qualifications. Obtain the correct candidacy filing paperwork. 2) Complete the required candidacy paperwork including the appropriate campaign finance forms, a certificate of announcement form and (if you plan to run as an independent) a nominating petition. If you plan to run as a partisan candidate, the filing window for the certificate of announcement, which is required in order to participate in the primary election, runs from the second Monday in January until the last Saturday in January. For more information please contact your local party office for further instructions. 3) If you plan to run as an independent candidate, submit the nominating certificate with the stipulated amount of verified signatures to the West Virginia Secretary of State Elections Division by the filing deadline. The amount of required nominating petition signatures varies by office. The filing deadline for independents is August 1st (WV 3-5-24). The West Virginia Secretary of State Elections Division is the point of contact for any questions or concerns you may have. The West Virginia Secretary of State Elections Division can be reached at 304-558-6000 and the Elections Division website can be found here: http://www.sos.wv.gov/elections/current/Documents/2016%20RFO%20Final.pdf

Submit application to:
West Virginia Secretary of State, 1900 Kanawha Blvd. East, Charleston, WV, 25305, US