West Virginia Military and Overseas Voters, Submit Your Ballot for the August 28, 2010 Special Senate Primary Election!

On Saturday, August 28, 2010 West Virginia will hold a special primary election to fill the Senatorial vacancy left by the passing of United States Senator Robert C. Byrd. The United States Senate seat represents all counties in the State of West Virginia.

The candidates in the order they appear on the ballot, are:

  • Democratic:
    • Ken Hechler
    • Sheirl Fletcher
    • Joe Manchin, III

  • Republican:
    • Thomas Ressler
    • Harry C. Bruner, Jr.
    • Frank Kubic
    • John R. Raese
    • Daniel Rebich
    • Kenneth A. Culp
    • Albert Howard
    • Lynette Kennedy McQuain
    • Scott H. Williams
    • Mac Warner

  • Mountain Party:
    • Jesse Johnson

If your voter registration reflects you have declared a specific party, then you may only vote that specific party ballot. Voters registered with no party affiliation or as “independent” must indicate the party for which you would like to receive a ballot.

Voters registering for the first time in West Virginia will need to provide an original voter registration application postmarked by the August 9, 2010 voter registration deadline.

Request Your Ballot

If you do not have one on file, you need to fill out an absentee ballot request as soon as possible. The Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) application and instructions are available at www.fvap.gov.

Send your FPCA NOW to ensure you have enough time to receive, vote, and return the ballot! The online version of the FPCA and West Virginia’s instructions on how to fill out and submit the form are available at: www.fvap.gov.

Although the registration deadline is August 9, 2010 and the ballot request deadline is August 23, 2010, these dates do not take into account mail delivery times required to receive and return your ballot by the special primary election day. You should not wait to complete and submit your FPCA, especially if you are completing the process by mail from an overseas location.

If you are already registered to vote, you may fax or email your request for an absentee ballot. If you are not already registered, you must return this form by mail. It is recommended that you fax or email the form directly to your local election official (fax numbers and email addresses can be found on the West Virginia Secretary of State website at http://www.wvsos.com.)

Use the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB)

Get started by going to www.fvap.gov and follow the instructions for using the FWAB in West Virginia. The FWAB is also available from your Voting Assistance Officer. Vote the FWAB by using the candidate list available at www.wvsos.com on and after July 24, 2010. Since this is a special primary election, votes for an individual other than one who has filed as an official candidate will not be counted. If you receive the regular State ballot after submitting the FWAB, vote and return it immediately. If both ballots are received by the deadline, only the regular State absentee ballot will be counted.

Voters may indicate on their absentee ballot application if they want their ballots sent to them by fax or email. Marked ballots may be returned by the same method.

Mail Your Voted FWAB

Do not wait! We recommend you mail your voted FWAB or regular State absentee ballot to your County Clerk as soon as possible. Voters in Iraq, Afghanistan, on ships at sea, and other overseas locations without access to the military postal system may want to explore electronic ballot transmission options. A list of addresses for County Clerks may be found at http://www.wvsos.com.

Deadlines for Voted Ballot

If you are emailing or faxing the FWAB, it must be received by your county clerk by 7:30 p.m. August 28, 2010.

If you are mailing the ballot or FWAB from inside or outside the United States, it must be received by your county clerk by 9:00 am, Tuesday, August 31, 2010, but must be postmarked by August 28, 2010.

We Want Your Feedback! If this document was helpful to you or if you ran into problems or have questions, please contact FVAP at 1-800-438-8683, DSN (312)425-1584, or at vote@fvap.gov. Toll-free numbers from 67 countries are listed at: www.fvap.gov/contact/tollfreephone.html. With your feedback, we can make this even more helpful for the next election.