This bill aims to amend the definition of a political party in West Virginia to apply to all state and local elections. It establishes that a political party will be recognized if it has either received at least one percent of the votes in the most recent general election for a statewide office or has a minimum of 5,000 registered voters as members. This change broadens the criteria for political party recognition and ensures that the definition is applicable to municipalities as well.

Additionally, the bill removes previous provisions that allowed municipalities to create their own criteria for recognizing political parties that did not meet the state-level requirements. This means that the new definition will standardize the recognition of political parties across the state and local levels, eliminating the possibility of municipalities adopting their own rules for political party participation in elections.

Statutes affected:
Introduced Version: 3-1-8