Morgantown canvass board declares April 20 election results, sets $300 recount fee

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — City councilors and election officials meeting Monday declared the April 20, 2025, municipal election results, set the recount fee at $300 and resolved a series of provisional and absentee ballot challenges, city staff said.

The action came after election staff walked the canvassing board through stacks of early, absentee and provisional ballots and reviewed county and Secretary of State registration records. Councilors voted to set the fee for a recount at $300 — the amount indicated at the meeting as the legal maximum — and then moved through individual provisional ballots, accepting some and rejecting others based on registration status and deadlines.

The canvass matters because candidates have 48 hours after the declaration to request a recount; if no recount is requested, the council will proceed to certify the results. During the meeting, staff described multiple cases in which ballots arrived after election day or where voter registration records disagreed between local county files and the statewide database.

City election official Christine summarized the absentee-mail situation before the board. “We had 4 absentees that came in after the election. 3 of them had a postmark appropriate for what the law states ... We have 1 that came in 2 days after the election,” Christine said during the canvass.

Councilors voted on multiple individual provisional ballots. The board rejected ballots that city records showed were registered outside the city limits, and rejected at least one ballot where the voter was not registered in West Virginia according to the Secretary of State lookup. In contrast, the board accepted one provisional ballot after staff confirmed the voter was registered in the city (the voter had cast that ballot at the wrong precinct on election day). In another case, staff and the board paused to check an apparent date-of-birth mismatch in registration records while attempting signature verification.

Officials read final tallies aloud at the close of the canvass. The results reported to the board included: Jody (107 votes), Jenny (96 votes), Mark (96 votes) and Stephanie (57 votes). For the charter amendment the board recorded 29 yes and 123 no; for the referendum the board recorded 79 yes and 74 no. The referendum count differed by one vote from an earlier count for that item; the board noted the result remains within a 1% margin.

The council moved to “declare the results” and approved that motion by roll call. A board member told attendees that candidates who want a recount must request one within 48 hours; otherwise the council will proceed to certify the numbers. After the canvass and related votes the meeting adjourned.

Timeline and next steps: the canvass meeting took place May 5, 2025; the 48-hour window for recount requests begins from the board’s declaration of results. If a recount is requested within that period, the recount process and any associated costs will follow the legal procedures identified at the meeting.