WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE

2023 REGULAR SESSION

Introduced

House Bill 3020

By Delegate Young

[Introduced January 25, 2023; Referred to the Committee on Government Organization then the Judiciary]

A BILL to amend and reenact §3-2-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to registration of voters, and requiring the Secretary of State to utilize the Electronic Registration Information Center.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 2. REGISTRATION OF VOTERS.

§3-2-3. State authority relating to voter registration; chief election official.

(a) The Secretary of State, as chief election official of the state as provided in §3-1A-6 of this chapter, shall have has general supervision of the voter registration procedures and practices and the maintenance of voter registration records in the state and shall have has authority to may require reports and investigate violations to ensure the proper conduct of voter registration throughout the state and all of its subdivisions. Upon written notice to the clerk of the county commission of a county of the need for voter registration record maintenance and the failure of that clerk to complete such maintenance within 90 days of the notice, the Secretary of State may make changes in the voter registration data necessary to comply with list maintenance requirements of §3-2-4a, §3-2-23, §3-2-25, §3-2-26, and §3-2-27 of this code: Provided, That the secretary shall send the notice by certified mail, return receipt requested.

(b) The Secretary of State, as chief election official of the state, is responsible for implementing and shall implement, in a uniform and nondiscriminatory manner, a single, uniform, official, centralized, interactive computerized statewide voter registration list defined, maintained, and administered at the state level that contains the name and registration information of every legally registered voter in the state and assigns a unique identifier to each legally registered voter in the state.

(c) The Secretary of State is hereby designated as the chief election official responsible for the coordination of this state's responsibilities under 42 U.S.C. §1973gg, et seq., the "National Voter Registration Act of 1993". The Secretary of State shall have has general supervision of voter registration procedures and practices at agencies and locations providing services as required by the provisions of this article and shall have the authority to may propose procedural, interpretive and legislative rules for promulgation in accordance with the provisions of §29A-3-1 et seq. of this code for application for registration, transmission of applications, reporting and maintenance of records required by the provisions of this article and for the development, implementation and application of other provisions of this article.  The Secretary of State shall utilize the voters Electronic Registration Information Center website for online voter registration.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the Secretary of State to utilize the Electronic Registration Information Center.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.