Municipal Elections Overview
There are two categories of elections in which Elkins voters may participate.
The city runs its own elections for city offices (i.e., mayor and council). City elections, held on the second Tuesday in June of odd-numbered years, are administered by the Elkins city clerk. There are no primaries for city offices.
County, state, and national primaries and elections are administered locally by the Randolph County clerk. The county clerk is also responsible for all voter registration records, even for city elections. To register or change your voter registration, please contact the Randolph County Clerk.
Scroll down and explore the other pages in this section for more information about Elkins municipal offices and elections.
Responsibilities of Mayor and Councilors
The Elkins mayor and 10-person council are, collectively, the city’s governing body and administrative authority. The city is chartered under the weak mayor/strong council form of government; there is no city manager, although there are five coequal administrative officers.
Under this charter, Elkins mayors have limited, narrowly defined authority; all major decisions for the city government are ultimately council’s responsibility. Elkins mayors chair but may not vote in council meetings, except to break a tie.
Deliberating and taking action as a body, the city council passes laws, adopts rules, and sets policy and strategic goals. Individual council members have no authority and are prohibited by the city charter from seeking to influence the work of city staff members.
Mayors: Terms and Election
Mayors are elected to a four-year term. Mayors appear on the ballot in all five city wards at every election.
Council Members: Terms and Election
Council members are elected to four-year terms. Two council members are elected from each of the city’s five wards, for a total of 10 council members. Terms are staggered such that only one seat from each ward is on the ballot at each biannual city election.
It sometimes happens that a council member’s seat becomes vacant between elections (for example, when a member moves out of his or her ward and must resign from council). In these cases, council appoints someone to fill the vacancy. In all such instances, the appointed member’s seat is on the ballot at the next election, regardless of when this seat’s term would normally have expired. It is therefore possible for both of a given ward’s council seats to be on the ballot at the same time, one for election to an “unexpired term” (i.e., to finish the term of the vacant seat that had been filled by appointment), and one for election to a full term.
Poll Workers
Poll workers are crucial to the success of Elkins municipal elections. By law, each election-day polling place must have four poll workers present throughout the day. Two poll workers are also needed to staff early in-person voting at city hall. Anyone eligible to vote in Elkins may serve as a poll worker for Elkins elections, except for candidates on the ballot and their parents, children, siblings, or spouse.
All poll workers must attend a three-hour training session prior to election day. On election day, poll workers must report to their polling places by 6 a.m. Polls remain open until 7:30 p.m. Because the city uses paper ballots that must be hand counted by poll workers immediately after polling places close, a poll worker’s election day responsibilities may extend until 8:30 p.m. or later, depending on the level of voter turnout. It is not permissible for poll workers to work a partial day or leave early. Each ward’s four assigned poll workers must remain at their polling place until the completion of their respective hand counts and other duties.
The two poll workers required for early in-person voting, which is offered at Elkins City Hall in the weeks before election day, work 9:00 a.m. -4:30 p.m. shifts on their assigned days.
Poll worker compensation:
- Training: $125
- Election day poll workers: $175
- Early in-person voting poll workers: $64 per day.
If you are interested in becoming a poll worker, please contact the Office of the Elkins City Clerk (information at the bottom of this page).
Additional Information
In advance of each election, we will announce additional information concerning candidates, polling places, voting and absentee balloting rules, and other details.
Please contact the city clerk, the city’s chief elections officer, with any questions about Elkins elections.
Sutton Stokes
Elkins City Clerk
401 Davis Avenue
Elkins, WV 26241
304.636.1414, ext. 1211 (office)
suttonstokes@cityofelkinswv.com
