Senate Bill No. 556
(By Senator Rowe)
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[Introduced February 8, 2002; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section eight, article nine, chapter
three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, relating to the "Secret Ballot
Protection Act of 2002"; and setting forth certain
requirements to assure the integrity of the voting process.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section eight, article nine, chapter three of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9. OFFENSES AND PENALTIES.
§3-9-8. Distinguishing marks on ballots; conspiracies; penalties.
(a) This section shall be called the "Secret Ballot Protection
Act of 2002."
(b) All ballots, whether paper, electronic or other medium, are to be produced, secured, handled, processed, delivered, voted,
counted and destroyed, if discarded or erased, pursuant to
established procedures in a regular verifiable manner to assure the
integrity of the voting process in all elections so that each vote
counted in any election is the free, true and confidential
expression of choice of a voter qualified to cast that ballot in
accordance with law and the spirit of liberty, democracy and
equality which are the foundation principals of the American
electoral process.
(a) (c) If any person shall induce or attempt to induce, any
voter or other person to write, encode, paste or otherwise place on
his or her ballot the name of any person, or any sign, signature or
device of any kind, as a distinguishing name, mark, code or writing
by which to indicate the identity of a voter to any other person
how such voter voted, or shall enter into or attempt to form any
agreement or conspiracy with any other person to induce or attempt
to induce a voter or other person to so place a distinguishing
name, or mark, on his code or writing on any ballot whether or not
such act be committed or attempted to be committed. such
(d) A person so offending who violates the provisions of this
section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, on upon conviction
thereof, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars, or be
imprisoned in the county or regional jail for not more than one
year, or both fined and imprisoned, in the discretion of the court.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide for
the "Secret
Ballot Protection Act of 2002." The proposed legislation sets
forth certain requirements to assure the integrity of the voting
process.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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