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MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — A petition filed Tuesday with the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals claims that an Eastern Panhandle candidate vying for a seat in the West Virginia House of Delegates is not eligible to run for the office.
The emergency petition by 59th District residents Patricia Adams and Howard Stone asks the court to grant an order directing Secretary of State Mac Warner's office to withdraw Republican Tally Reed's candidacy certification and declare her ineligible for the election due to residency requirements.
Reed is running against former Del. Larry D. Kump in the May 8 primary election for the GOP nod in the 59th District.
Adams' and Stone's petition also asks the court to direct Warner to instruct officials in Berkeley and Morgan counties not to include Reed on primary-election ballots and not to tally any votes cast for her.
Early voting in the primary begins Wednesday.
A spokesman for Warner's office had little to say about the petition, which was filed by Cross Lanes, W.Va., attorney Patrick Lane on behalf of the residents.
"This issue is up to the courts to decide," Adams said in an email. "We will abide by any decision made by the courts. Beyond that, we have no comment."
Reed said in an interview April 11 that she lives in the 59th District, and attributed questions raised concerning her eligibility to "confusion" and supporters of Kump.
"They have latched onto the fact that my house (in Morgan County) has a Hedgesville zip code," she said.
The 59th District includes portions of Berkeley and Morgan counties, including the communities of Hedgesville, Cherry Run, Jones Spring and The Woods.
Stone and Adams contend that Reed clearly is ineligible, citing more than a dozen exhibits in their petition, including property records, voting history and campaign materials linking the candidate to a Berkeley Springs, W.Va., residence in the 58th District as recently as January.
Reed's certificate of candidacy announcement filed Jan. 25 with the secretary of state's office said her home address is 11348 Martinsburg Road, Hedgesville, WV 25411.
Before Jan. 3, the address listed on Reed's voter registration was 4253 Martinsburg Road, Berkeley Springs, WV, 25411, which is in the 58th District, according to information released by Warner's office and the petition.
The petitioners contend that the residence at Reed's new Martinsburg Road address is deeded to Reed's Real Estate LLC, and is classified for taxation with the Morgan County assessor as "nonowner occupied property."
The petition also notes that Reed's Real Estate is listed in Reed's West Virginia Ethics Commission financial disclosure statement as a for-profit business.
The petitioners also claim that she still is not an eligible candidate because she didn't comply with the one-year residency rule of the state constitution.
In order to comply with the rule, Reed must have lived at the address in question by Nov. 5, 2017 — one year before the Nov. 6 general election this year, the petitioners claim.
A commercial deed of trust executed Nov. 20, 2017, states that Reed and her husband's residence was 4253 Martinsburg Road on that date, according to online county records and the petition.
The petitioners also contend that there is material evidence that Reed used the 58th District address as recently as January while she was acting as the election campaign treasurer for a judicial candidate.
The 14-page petition filed by Lane doesn't name the judicial candidate, but the secretary of state's office website previously listed Reed as the 2018 election campaign treasurer for 23rd Judicial Circuit Judge Debra MH McLaughlin. The judge's current treasurer is Frank Subasic, according to campaign finance records.
"Perhaps the most convincing evidence showing respondent Reed has failed to meet the durational residence requirements is the sworn affidavit of the person living across the street from the 11348 Martinsburg Road property," the petition states. "After being duly sworn, the neighbor verifies that he has not seen Reed maintain a residence at the claimed location prior to Jan. 1, 2018."
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