Is a Special Election Required to Fill the Byrd Vacancy?

           Senator Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), the longest serving Member of Congress in U.S. history, passed away today.  R.I.P. 

            The vacancy created by Byrd’s death will be filled by the Governor under § 3-10-3 of the West Virginia Code.  This statute provides that if the unexpired term of certain vacant offices, including that of U.S. Senator, is less than two years and six months, the appointment will be for the remainder of the unexpired term.  It should be noted that this provision raises some serious constitutional questions under the Seventeenth Amendment, particularly in light of the Seventh Circuit’s recent decision regarding the Senate vacancy in Illinois.  According to the court, the Seventeenth Amendment requires that “every time that a vacancy happens in the state’s senate delegation, the state must hold an election in which the people elect a permanent replacement to fill the vacant seat [and] the executive officer of the state must issue a writ of election that includes a date for such an election to take place.”  Under West Virginia law, however, neither of these requirements will be met whenever the vacancy occurs less than two years and six months prior to the end of the original term. 

            This issue may not directly arise in the present situation.  As of today, there are two years, six months and five days of Byrd’s unexpired term remaining.  Thus, it would seem that under West Virginia law a special election is required. 

            It is possible, however, that the Governor could take a contrary position.  First, the Governor might take the position that the vacancy does not “occur” until he receives formal notice from the Senate.  Were the Senate to fail to give notice of the vacancy this week, the Governor might argue that the unexpired term is less than that required to trigger a special election.  Second, the Governor might argue that the vacancy continues to occur so long as the office remains vacant, so that the length of the unexpired term is measured by whenever the temporary appointment is made.  Third, (closely related to but somewhat stronger than the second), the Governor could argue that the “unexpired term” referred to in the statute is measured by the temporary appointment, not by the vacancy.  Under either the second or third points, no special election would be required if the Governor fails to fill the vacancy until after July 3 (this Saturday). 

            I don’t know what West Virginia law may say about these points, but there are two good reasons for regarding them with skepticism.  First, it seems unlikely that the legislature intended to leave it up to the Governor’s discretion when the clock starts on the unexpired term.  (It is more likely that the legislature would have started the clock upon official notice from the Senate, but in that case one would expect that it would have said so explicitly).  This is particularly so since the legislature did not require the Governor to fill the vacancy within a specific period of time, raising the possibility that the Governor could wait weeks or even months to fill a vacancy in order to avoid a special election. 

            Second, and more importantly, any interpretation that prevents a special election from occurring at all would raise the serious constitutional questions previously mentioned.  Such an interpretation would fly in the face of “the Seventeenth Amendment’s primary objective of guaranteeing that senators are selected by the people of the states in popular elections,” as the Seventh Circuit put it.  Thus, the doctrine of constitutional avoidance strongly counsels in favor of an interpretation allowing a special election to take place. 

            For these reasons I conclude that a special election to fill Byrd’s seat is likely required.  I will turn to the question of when such a special election should occur in another post.