Terms Used In West Virginia Code > Chapter 3 > Article 8 - Regulation and Control of Elections

• accuser: means a person who signs and swears to charges, any person who directs that charges nominally be signed and sworn to by another, and any other person who has an interest other than an official interest in the prosecution of the accused. See West Virginia Code 15-1E-1
• ADS: means the hardware and software that are collectively capable of performing the entire dynamic driving task on a sustained basis, regardless of whether it is limited to a specific operational design domain. See West Virginia Code 17H-1-3
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
• Ballot issue: means a constitutional amendment, special levy, bond issue, local option referendum, municipal charter or revision, an increase or decrease of corporate limits, or any other question that is placed before the voters for a binding decision. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Billboard advertisement: means a commercially available outdoor advertisement, sign, or similar display regularly available for lease or rental to advertise a person, place, or product. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• board: means a county board of education. See West Virginia Code 18-1-1
• Candidate: means an individual who:

  (A) Has filed a certificate of announcement under §. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a

• Career clusters: means broad groupings of related occupations. See West Virginia Code 18-1-1
• Caregiving services: means direct care, protection, and supervision of a child, or other person with a disability or a medical condition, for which a candidate has direct caregiving responsibility. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• Caucus: From the Algonquian Indian language, a caucus meant "to meet together." An informal organization of members of the legislature that exists to discuss issues of mutual concern and possibly to perform legislative research and policy planning for its members. There are regional, political or ideological, ethnic, and economic-based caucuses.
• Caucus campaign committee: means a West Virginia House of Delegates or Senate political party caucus campaign committee that receives contributions and makes expenditures to support or oppose one or more specific candidates or slates of candidates for nomination, election, or committee membership. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• Clearly identified: means that the name, nickname, photograph, drawing, or other depiction of the candidate appears, or the identity of the candidate is otherwise apparent through an unambiguous reference, such as "the Governor" "your Senator" or "the incumbent" or through an unambiguous reference to his or her status as a candidate, such as "the Democratic candidate for Governor" or "the Republican candidate for Supreme Court of Appeals". See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• code: means this article. See West Virginia Code 15-1E-1
• commanding officer: includes only commissioned officers of the state military forces and shall include officers in charge only when administering nonjudicial punishment under Section fifteen of this article. See West Virginia Code 15-1E-1
• Committee membership: Legislators are assigned to specific committees by their party. Seniority, regional balance, and political philosophy are the most prominent factors in the committee assignment process.
• Committee substitute: Short for committee amendment in the nature of a substitute.
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Contribution: means a gift, subscription, loan, assessment, payment for services, dues, advance, donation, pledge, contract, agreement, forbearance, promise of money, or other tangible thing of value, whether conditional or legally enforceable, or a transfer of money or other tangible thing of value to a person, made for the purpose of influencing the nomination, election, or defeat of a candidate. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• convening authority: includes , in addition to the person who convened the court, a commissioned officer commanding for the time being or a successor in command to the convening authority. See West Virginia Code 15-1E-1
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Coordinated expenditure: is a n expenditure made in concert with, in cooperation with, or at the request or suggestion of a candidate or candidate's committee and meeting the criteria provided in §. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• Corporate political action committee: means a political action committee that is a separate segregated fund of a corporation that may only accept contributions from its restricted group as outlined by the rules of the State Election Commission. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• Credit Score: A number, roughly between 300 and 800, that measures an individual's credit worthiness. The most well-known type of credit score is the FICO score. This score represents the answer from a mathematical formula that assigns numerical values to various pieces of information in your credit report. ^{Source: OCC}
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• day: means calendar day and is not synonymous with the term "unit training assembly. See West Virginia Code 15-1E-1
• DDT: means all of the real-time operational and tactical functions required to operate a vehicle in on-road traffic, excluding the strategic functions such as trip scheduling and selection of destinations and waypoints, and including without limitation:

  (1) Lateral vehicle motion control via steering. See West Virginia Code 17H-1-3

• DDT fallback: means the response by the person or human driver to either perform the DDT or achieve a minimal risk condition after occurrence of a DDT performance-relevant system failure or upon operational design domain exit, or the response by an automated driving system to achieve minimal risk condition given the same circumstances. See West Virginia Code 17H-1-3
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Disclosure date: means either of the following:

  (A) The first date during any calendar year on which any electioneering communication is disseminated after the person paying for the communication has spent a total of $5,000 or more for the direct costs of purchasing, producing, or disseminating electioneering communications. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a

• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Donee: The recipient of a gift.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Election: means any primary, general, or special election conducted under the provisions of this code or under the charter of any municipality at which the voters nominate or elect candidates for public office. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• Electioneering communication: means any paid communication made by broadcast, cable or satellite signal, mass mailing, telephone bank, billboard advertisement, or publication in any newspaper, magazine, or other periodical that:

  (i) Refers to a clearly identified candidate for Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Treasurer, Auditor, Commissioner of Agriculture, Supreme Court of Appeals, or the Legislature. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a

• enlisted member: means a person in an enlisted grade. See West Virginia Code 15-1E-1
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Executive session: A portion of the Senate's daily session in which it considers executive business.
• Expressly advocating: means any communication that:

  (A) Uses phrases such as "vote for the Governor" "re-elect your Senator" "support the incumbent nominee for Supreme Court" "cast your ballot for the Republican challenger for House of Delegates" "Smith for House" "Bob Smith in '04" "vote Pro-Life" or "vote Pro-Choice" accompanied by a listing of clearly identified candidates described as Pro-Life or Pro-Choice, "vote against Old Hickory" "defeat" accompanied by a picture of one or more candidates, "reject the incumbent". See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a

• Extradition: The formal process of delivering an accused or convicted person from authorities in one state to authorities in another state.
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Financial agent: means any individual acting for and by himself or herself, or any two or more individuals acting together or cooperating in a financial way to aid or take part in the nomination or election of any candidate for public office, or to aid or promote the success or defeat of any political party at any election. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• Financial transactions: means all contributions or loans received and all repayments of loans or expenditures made to promote the candidacy of any person by any candidate or any organization advocating or opposing the nomination, election, or defeat of any candidate to be voted on. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• Firewall: means a policy designed and implemented to prohibit the flow of information between employees or consultants providing services for the person paying for a communication and those employees or consultants currently or previously providing services to a candidate, or to a committee supporting or opposing a candidate clearly identified in the communication. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• Forbearance: A means of handling a delinquent loan. A
• Foreign national: means the following:

  (A) A foreign principal, as such term is defined in 22 U. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a

• Fully autonomous vehicle: means a motor vehicle equipped with an automated driving system (ADS) designed to function without a human driver as a level 4 or 5 system under SAE J3016. See West Virginia Code 17H-1-3
• fundraiser: means an event such as a dinner, reception, testimonial, cocktail party, auction, or similar affair through which contributions are solicited or received. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• Gross data: means aggregate data regarding the information obtained under section two of this article. See West Virginia Code 17G-1-1
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Human driver: means a natural person in the vehicle with a valid license to operate a motor vehicle who controls all or part of the dynamic driving task (DDT). See West Virginia Code 17H-1-3
• In concert or cooperation with or at the request or suggestion of: means that a candidate or his or her agent consulted with:

  (A) The sender regarding the content, timing, place, nature, or volume of a particular communication or communication to be made. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a

• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Independent expenditure: means an expenditure by a person:

  (A) Expressly advocating the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate, including supporting or opposing the candidates of a political party. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a

• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• Joint meeting: An occasion, often ceremonial, when the House and Senate each adopt a unanimous consent agreement
• Joint session: When both chambers of a legislature adopt a concurrent resolution to meet together.
• judge advocate: means a commissioned officer of the organized state military forces who is an attorney licensed to practice in this state or is a member in good standing of the bar of the highest court of another state, who is admitted pro hac vice to practice in this state, and is any of the following: Certified or designated as a judge advocate in the Judge Advocate General'. See West Virginia Code 15-1E-1
• judgment: shall mean : Any judgment which shall have become final by expiration without appeal of the time within which an appeal might have been perfected, or by final affirmation on appeal, rendered by a court of competent jurisdiction of any state or of the United States, upon a cause of action arising out of the ownership, operation, maintenance, or use of any motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer for damages, including damages for care and loss of services, because of bodily injury to or death of any person, or for damages because of injury to or destruction of property, including the loss of use thereof, or upon a cause of action on an agreement of settlement for such damages. See West Virginia Code 17D-4-3
• Law-enforcement agency: means every state, county or municipal agency with officers who are authorized to direct or regulate traffic or to make arrests or issue citations or warnings for violations of traffic laws and ordinances. See West Virginia Code 17G-1-1
• Legacy: A gift of property made by will.
• Legislative session: That part of a chamber's daily session in which it considers legislative business (bills, resolutions, and actions related thereto).
• license: shall mean : Any license, temporary instruction permit, or temporary license issued under the laws of this state pertaining to the licensing of persons to operate motor vehicles. See West Virginia Code 17D-4-3
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Local: refers to the election of candidates to a city, county, or municipal office and any issue to be voted on by only the residents of a particular political subdivision. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• Markup: The process by which congressional committees and subcommittees debate, amend, and rewrite proposed legislation.
• Mass mailing: means a mailing by United States mail, facsimile, or electronic mail of more than 500 pieces of mail matter of an identical or substantially similar nature within any 30-day period. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• Membership organization: means a group that grants bona fide rights and privileges, such as the right to vote, to elect officers or directors, and the ability to hold office to its members and which uses a majority of its membership dues for purposes other than political purposes. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• Membership organization political action committee: means a labor organization or a trade association, cooperative, or other incorporated membership organization that: Is composed of members. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• military judge: means an official of a general or special court-martial detailed in accordance with section twenty-six of this article. See West Virginia Code 15-1E-1
• military offenses: means those offenses prescribed under sections seventy-seven (Principals), seventy-eight (Accessory after the fact), eighty (Attempts), eighty-one (Conspiracy), eighty-two (Solicitation),eighty-three (Fraudulent enlistment, appointment, or separation), eighty-four (Unlawful enlistment, appointment, or separation), eighty-five (Desertion), eighty-six (Absence without leave), eighty-seven (Missing movement), eighty-eight (Contempt toward officials), eighty-nine (Disrespect towards superior commissioned officer), ninety (Assaulting or willfully disobeying superior commissioned officer), ninety-one (Insubordinate conduct toward warrant officer, noncommissioned officer, or petty officer), ninety-two (Failure to obey order or regulation), ninety-three (Cruelty and maltreatment), ninety-four (Mutiny or sedition), ninety-five (Resistance, flight, breach of arrest, and escape), ninety-six (Releasing prisoner without proper authority), ninety-seven (Unlawful detention), ninety-eight (Noncompliance with procedural rules), ninety-nine (Misbehavior before the enemy), one hundred (Subordinate compelling surrender), one hundred one (Improper use of countersign), one hundred two (Forcing a safeguard), one hundred three (Captured or abandoned property), one hundred four (Aiding the enemy), one hundred five (Misconduct as prisoner), one hundred seven (False official statements), one hundred eight (Military property - Loss, damage, destruction, or wrongful disposition), one hundred nine (Property other than military property - waste, spoilage, or destruction), one hundred ten (Improper hazarding of vessel), one hundred twelve (Drunk on duty), one hundred twelve-a. See West Virginia Code 15-1E-1
• Minimal risk condition: means a condition in which a person, human driver, or an ADS may bring a vehicle after performing the DDT fallback in order to reduce the risk of a crash when a given trip cannot or should not be completed. See West Virginia Code 17H-1-3
• Minority group: means individuals of any ethnic descent, including, but not limited to, African-American, Hispanic, Native American, Middle Eastern, Asian or Pacific Islander. See West Virginia Code 17G-1-1
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• Name: means the full first name, middle name, or initial, if any, and full legal last name of an individual and the full name of any association, corporation, committee, or other organization of individuals, making the identity of any person who makes a contribution apparent by unambiguous reference. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• National Credit Union Administration: The federal regulatory agency that charters and supervises federal credit unions. (NCUA also administers the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, which insures the deposits of federal credit unions.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• oath: shall be deemed to include an affirmation and the word "swear" or "sworn" to be complied with if the person referred to make solemn affirmation. See West Virginia Code 2-2-7
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Off-road vehicle: means a vehicle that is suitable for off-road use. See West Virginia Code 17F-1-9
• Offense: includes every act or omission for which a fine, forfeiture, or punishment is imposed by law. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• officer: means a commissioned or warrant officer. See West Virginia Code 15-1E-1
• officer in charge: means a member of the Naval Militia, the Navy, the Marine Corps, or the Coast Guard designated as such by appropriate authority. See West Virginia Code 15-1E-1
• On-demand autonomous vehicle network: means a transportation service network that uses a software application or other digital means to dispatch or otherwise enable the pre-arrangement of transportation with fully autonomous vehicles for purposes of transporting passengers or goods, including for-hire transportation and transportation of goods or passengers for compensation. See West Virginia Code 17H-1-3
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Person: means an individual, corporation, partnership, committee, association, and any other organization or group of individuals. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• Person: means a natural person, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, governmental agency, public corporation, or any legal or commercial entity. See West Virginia Code 17H-1-3
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Platooning: means a situation when no more than three fully autonomous vehicles are traveling in concert, pursuant to a pre-determined written travel plan that identifies the vehicles and proposed route. See West Virginia Code 17H-1-3
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Political action committee: means a committee organized by one or more persons, the primary purpose of which is to support or oppose the nomination or election of one or more candidates. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• Political committee: means any candidate committee, political action committee, or political party committee. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• Political party: means a political party as that term is defined by §. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• Political party committee: means a committee established by a political party or political party caucus for the purposes of engaging in the influencing of the election, nomination, or defeat of a candidate in any election. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• Political purposes: means supporting or opposing the nomination, election, or defeat of one or more candidates or the passage or defeat of a ballot issue, supporting the retirement of the debt of a candidate or political committee or the administration or activities of an established political party or an organization which has declared itself a political party, and determining the advisability of becoming a candidate under the pre-candidacy financing provisions of this chapter. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Proof of financial responsibility: means proof of ability to respond in damages for liability, on account of accident occurring subsequent to the effective date of the proof, arising out of the ownership, operation, maintenance or use of a motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer in the amount of $20,000 because of bodily injury to or death of one person in any one accident, and, subject to the limit for one person, in the amount of $40,000 because of bodily injury to or death of two or more persons in any one accident, and in the amount of $10,000 because of injury to or destruction of property of others in any one accident. See West Virginia Code 17D-4-2
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• record: when used in connection with the proceedings of a court-martial, means - an official written transcript, written summary, or other writing relating to the proceedings. See West Virginia Code 15-1E-1
• registration: shall mean : The registration certificate or certificates and registration plates issued under the laws of this state pertaining to the registration of vehicles. See West Virginia Code 17D-4-3
• Request to intervene: means notification by an ADS to a human driver, that the human driver should promptly begin or resume performance of part or all of the DDT. See West Virginia Code 17H-1-3
• School: means the students and teachers assembled in one or more buildings, organized as a unit. See West Virginia Code 18-1-1
• School-age juvenile: means any individual who is entitled to attend or who, if not placed in a residential facility, would be entitled to attend public schools in accordance with: (1) Section five, article two of this chapter. See West Virginia Code 18-1-1
• Senior force judge advocate: means the senior judge advocate of the commander of the same force of the state military forces as the accused and who is that commander'. See West Virginia Code 15-1E-1
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• state: shall mean : Any state, territory, or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, or any province of the Dominion of Canada. See West Virginia Code 17D-4-3
• State: means one of the several states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U. See West Virginia Code 15-1E-1
• State board: means the West Virginia Board of Education. See West Virginia Code 18-1-1
• State military forces: means the National Guard of the state, as defined in title 32, United States Code, to include the West Virginia Army National Guard, the West Virginia Air National Guard and the inactive National Guard, and shall be deemed to include any unit, component, element, headquarters, staff or cadre thereof, as well as any member or members, when not in a status subjecting them to exclusive jurisdiction under chapter 47 of title 10, United States Code. See West Virginia Code 15-1E-1
• State superintendent: means the state superintendent of free Schools. See West Virginia Code 18-1-1
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• substantially similar: includes communications that contain substantially the same template or language, but vary in nonmaterial respects such as communications customized by the recipient's name, occupation, or geographic location. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• superintendent: means a county superintendent of schools. See West Virginia Code 18-1-1
• Targeted to the relevant electorate: means a communication which refers to a clearly identified candidate for statewide office or the Legislature and which can be received by 140,000 or more individuals in the state in the case of a candidacy for statewide office, 8,220 or more individuals in the district in the case of a candidacy for the State Senate, and 2,410 or more individuals in the district in the case of a candidacy for the House of Delegates. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• Teacher: means a teacher, supervisor, principal, superintendent, public school librarian or any other person regularly employed for instructional purposes in a public school in this state. See West Virginia Code 18-1-1
• Telephone bank: means telephone calls that are targeted to the relevant electorate, other than telephone calls made by volunteer workers, regardless of whether paid professionals designed the telephone bank system, developed calling instructions, or trained volunteers. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Town: includes a city, village or town, and the word "council" any body or board, whether composed of one or more branches, which is authorized to make ordinances for the government of a city, town, or village. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Unaffiliated political action committee: means a political action committee that is not affiliated with a corporation or a membership organization. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Work-based learning: means a structured activity that correlates with and is mutually supportive of the school-based learning of the student and includes specific objectives to be learned by the student as a result of the activity. See West Virginia Code 18-1-1