I have had the pleasure of representing many wonderful people and business as an attorney. However, one of the most satisfying cases I have worked on was representing the incumbent Mayor of the town of East Bank, Charles Blair, in an election contest.
Being Mayor has at times been a thankless and even personally grueling job. Nevertheless, this Mayor does it out of the love for his town. Mayor Blair is a great public servant and I look up to him as an example of what a public servant should be. He won re-election on June 5, 2007 by a vote of 211 to 208 and his challenger filed an election challenge. I represented Mayor Blair and below is a story from the Charleston Gazette about the outcome.
A Kanawha County judge ruled Wednesday that the East Bank Town Council overstepped its authority when it ordered a new election in last year’s highly contested mayoral election.
In her written opinion, Judge Jennifer Bailey Walker concluded that municipal law allows the council to declare the winner, but does not grant the six-member panel the power to order a run-off election.
The June 5 election between longtime incumbent Chuck Blair and Councilman Gene Webb ended up deadlocked, with 206 votes for each candidate. Eight provisional ballots were used to break the tie, with the final tally 211-208 in Blair’s favor.
Webb challenged the validity of the provisional ballots after the envelopes used to store them could not be found. Without the envelopes, Webb maintained, it was impossible to verify that eligible East Bank voters properly cast the votes.
The matter went to trial on Sept. 4, with council members sitting as the jury. The trial lasted until 4:30 a.m., when council members voted unanimously to hold another election.
Walker concluded that the missing envelopes constitute a technical error, but not fraud.
“The only failure in the mayoral election was the improper maintenance of the empty provisional envelopes,” the order states.
Walker’s ruling apparently leaves Blair as mayor, ending an 11-month period where the holder of the town’s top office remained in question. However, Webb’s lawyer, Jeff Woods, said that his client intends to appeals Walker’s decision to the state Supreme Court.
Woods pointed to evidence that surfaced during the trial that the provisional ballot of one resident, Harold Pack, was valid but not counted.
“If [election officials] made a mistake in declaring that that one ballot had not been counted, then he was disenfranchised,” Woods said. “How can you say they were right about the other eight [provisional ballots] when it’s obvious they were wrong – using the same standard – about Mr. Pack’s?”
The disenfranchisement of even one voter should invalidate the entire election, Woods said.
“It definitely weakens and undermines the integrity of the election process, which includes Mr. Webb’s right to have a meaningful election,” he said.
Blair’s attorney, Roger Decanio, said that Walker correctly concluded that one vote would not have changed the outcome of the election.
“Although it is highly regrettable that his vote wasn’t counted initially, even if it was counted today it wouldn’t change the result of the election,” he said.
Blair is happy with the judge’s decision, and is ready to move on and focus on leading the town, he said.
“We are both extremely pleased, pleased that the election of June 5 will not be disregarded or that any voter will be disenfranchised,” he said.
Blair hopes to mend some fences, including with Webb, he said.
“This challenge, on both sides, does not reflect poorly on either of the two individuals,” he said. “They both care about their community, they both care about their neighbors. But now it’s time to move on.”
To contact staff writer Andrew Clevenger, use e-mail or call 348-1723.
