Two men who were certified winners of a Fayette County Republican Executive Committee primary race have had those certifications vacated — and will have to face voters again in November — after county officials found that more Republican ballots were cast than the number of registered Republicans who actually participated in the election.
The Fayette County Commission convened a special session at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, July 22, to address an election contest filed by candidate William Vest over the Plateau District male positions on the Republican Executive Committee. The commission's findings were stark: Republican ballots cast exceeded the number of registered Republicans who participated by at least 37, according to wjlsam.com.
Because voters in that race could cast ballots for two candidates, officials calculated that those 37 ineligible voters could have introduced as many as 74 unlawful votes into the count — enough to make the true outcome impossible to reconstruct with reasonable certainty.
As a result, the commission vacated the Fayette County Board of Canvassers' certifications that had awarded the two Plateau District male committee seats to Robert Shirley Love and Austin Haynes. Both positions will now appear on the November 2026 general election ballot, according to wjlsam.com.
The special session was separate from the commission's regular 9:00 a.m. meeting, which covered a range of other county business. Among the decisions made in the regular session: the commission approved additional funding to address a budget shortfall and waterline costs for Fire Station 18, according to citizenportal.ai. The regular session also included an ARPA fund reallocation related to Meadow Bridge, personnel appointments, board appointments, and a proclamation recognizing National Recovery Month.
Both the regular and special sessions were held in the County Commission Chambers on the first floor of the Fayette County Courthouse, with Zoom and call-in options available. Recordings of both sessions were posted to the Fayette County Commission WV YouTube channel.
Why it matters — Fayette County voters who participated in the Republican primary — and the two men who believed they had won seats on the party's executive committee — now face an entirely new election in November because officials could not determine who lawfully won.
⚠ Not yet confirmed
- The additional funding approved for Fire Station 18 was approximately $53,750–$121,359.
- The special session involved 'three candidates' being ordered into a new election.
- specific project budget figure of approximately $2.445 million for Fire Station 18 (unsupported by sources)
Reported by citizenportal.ai, wvnstv.com, woay.com, wjlsam.com, wvmetronews.com
Where this comes from
Written by Papalocal's AI from these outlets' reporting. It can miss or misread things; the outlets are the record.