WEST VIRGINIA CODE
§3-10-7. Vacancies in offices of county commissioner and clerk of county commission.
Any vacancy in the office of county commissioner or clerk of county commission shall be filled by the county commission of the county, unless the number of vacancies in a county commission deprive that body of a quorum, in which case the Governor of the state shall fill any vacancy in the county commission necessary to create a quorum thereof.
Persons appointed shall be of the same political party as the officeholder vacating the office and shall continue in office until the next general election is certified, or until the completion of the term if the term ends on the thirty-first day of December following the next general election:
Provided, That in the event a quorum of the county commission cannot agree upon a person to fill a vacancy in the office of county commissioner within thirty days of the date the vacancy first occurred, the county executive committee of the vacating county commissioner's political party shall select and name a person to fill the vacancy from the membership of the vacating county commissioner's political party.
Notice of the election shall be given by order of the county commission and published as prescribed in section six of this article. Nomination of candidates to fill the office for an unexpired term in the office of county commissioner or clerk of the county commission shall be made in the manner prescribed for making nominations to fill a vacancy in the office of the clerk of the circuit court.
In the event that the election for an unexpired term is held at the same time as the election for a full term for county commissioner, the full term shall be counted first and the unexpired term shall be counted second. If the candidate with the highest number of votes for the unexpired term resides in the same magisterial district as the candidate with the highest number of votes for the full term, the candidate for the full term shall be seated.
The candidate with the next highest number of votes for the unexpired term residing in a different magisterial district shall be seated for the unexpired term.
