Kanawha County Board of Education Candidates

*Only candidates who responded to the Chamber’s questionnaire are linked below. (I) indicates an incumbent candidate.

Understanding BOE Elections

The Board of Education (BOE) is comprised of members elected on a nonpartisan basis for four-year terms. BOE members do not represent specific districts but no more than two members from the same district may serve at the same time.

Two seats are on the ballot during Presidential election years and 3 seats are on the ballot in non-presidential mid-term election years. For example, 2 seats were up for re-election in 2020 and 3 seats are on the ballot for 2022.

BOE candidates are listed on the Primary election ballots and are not required to win a Primary to move onto the General Election. The Primary serves as the election.

Since there are 3 seats on the ballot this year, electors will vote for no more than 3 candidates during the Primary election. The top 3 vote-getters will win, unless there that would mean that there would be more than 2 BOE members from any 1 district.


Example: Primary Ballot with 3 seats available

Even though Elroy was in the top 3 for votes, he cannot be elected because that would mean that there would be more than 2 from the same district. Therefore, Pam has the next highest vote total and wins the 3rd seat.

Current Kanawha County BOE make-up includes:

District 1 – 2 members

District 2 – 1 member

District 3 – 2 members

District 4 – 0 members


Incumbents up for re-election include:

District 1 – 1 member

District 2 – 1 member

District 3 – 1 member


Based on the candidates that are running for election and incumbents that are not up for re-election, the top 3 vote-getters can include no more than 1 member from District 1 and 2 members from District 2.

As there are numerous candidates in Districts 1 and 2, we encourage you to learn about each candidate and make an informed decision.