The State Executive Committee of the Mountain Party, the Green Party of West Virginia, is announcing the candidate qualifications and procedure for its party facilitated primary.
Qualification:
Candidates meeting all of the criteria established by the Green Party’s Presidential Campaign Support Committee will have their names printed on the ballot. Unrecognized candidates have one month to meet the criteria. The ballot access deadline is March 3, 2020 at 11:59 pm Eastern Time. Candidates without ballot access will automatically be recognized as write-in candidates.
Procedure:
The Presidential Preference Poll, not facilitated by the West Virginia Secretary of States’s elections division, will be conducted by mail-in and verifiable digital means. No later than March 10 will ballots be mailed to active registered voters designated as “Mountain” or “Green” affiliation. Independent voters, not voting in another primary, may vote in this election, per our bylaws. Voting will be completed on May 12, 2020 at 7:30 pm Eastern Time. Unofficial results will be announced within 24 hours, with delegate projection. Verified results will be made available and certified at the state convention.
Proportional Representation will be used to allocate the 5 Presidential Nominating Convention delegates to the candidates. For simplicity and fairness, a candidate’s total vote percentage will be multiplied by 5 and rounded to the nearest whole number. If there are more than two candidates receiving votes, mathematically no candidates can be guaranteed a delegate with a static threshold, such as greater than 10% = 1. Delegate allocation will prioritize candidates with higher vote counts.
For Example: Candidate X receives 79.0%, candidate Y receives 10.6%, and candidate Z receives 10.4%. Candidate Y will be awarded a delegate over candidate Z, as Y has the higher vote percent and there is only one delegate remaining:
| Candidate | Vote Percent | Delegates Awarded |
| X | 79.0% | .790 x 5 = 3.95 or 4 |
| Y | 10.6% | .106 x 5 = 0.53 or 1 |
| Z | 10.4% | .104 x 5 = 0.52 or 0 |
Timeline:
- February 3 – Notify Presidential Candidates
- March 3 @ 11:59 pm – Ballot Access Deadline (70 Days Before May 12)
- March 4 – Verifiable Digital Voting Begins
- March 10 – Ballots are Mailed
- April 28 – Fortnight Warning To Return Mailed Ballots
- May 12 @ 7:30 pm – Voting Ends
- May 13 – Unofficial Results Announced
- June TBA – Allocation of Delegates Formally Made At State Convention
