H. B. 3002
(By Delegates Amores and Trump)
[Introduced
March 11, 2005
; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §3-2-31 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to elections generally; deleting
the requirement that a voter designate a political party
designation at least thirty days before the primary in order
to vote in the primary; and providing for the designation to
occur no later than the close of voter registration before the
primary.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §3-2-31 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. REGISTRATION OF VOTERS.
§3-2-31. Rules pertaining to voting after registration or change
of address within the county.
(a) A voter who designates a political affiliation with a
major party on a registration application filed at least thirty
days no later than the close of voter registration before the
primary may vote the ballot of that political party in the primary election. Political parties, through the official action of their
state executive committees, shall be permitted to determine whether
unaffiliated voters or voters of other parties shall be allowed to
vote that party's primary election ballot upon request.
(b) A voter whose registration record lists one residence
address but the voter has since moved to another residence address
within the precinct shall be permitted to update the registration
at the polling place and vote without challenge for that reason.
(c) A voter whose registration record lists one residence
address but the voter has since moved to another residence address
in a different precinct in the same county shall be permitted to
update the registration at the polling place serving the new
precinct and shall be permitted to vote a challenged or provisional
ballot at the new polling place. If the voter's registration is
found on the registration records within the county during the
canvass and no other challenge of eligibility was entered on
election day, the challenge shall be removed and the ballot shall
be counted.
(d) A voter whose registration record has been placed on an
inactive status or transferred to an inactive file and who has not
responded to a confirmation notice sent pursuant to the provisions
of section twenty-four, twenty-five or twenty-six of this article
and who offers to vote at the polling place where he or she is
registered to vote shall be required to affirm his or her present
residence address under penalty of perjury, as provided in section
thirty-six of this article.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to remove the thirty day
deadline for submitting party designations to be eligible to vote
in the primary election and providing that the designation may
occur no later than the close of voter registration before the
primary.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.