H. B. 2484


(By Delegates Walters (By Request)

and Calvert

(By Request))
[Introduced February 15, 1995; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]




A BILL to amend and reenact sections two and thirty-one, article one, chapter three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and reenact section one, article six of said chapter, all relating to elections; general provisions and definitions; conduct and administration of elections; and eliminating special elections.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections two and thirty-one, article one, chapter three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that section one, article six of said chapter be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:

ARTICLE 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS.
§3-1-2. Scope of chapter; definitions.
Unless restricted by the context, the provisions of this chapter shall apply to every general and primary and special election in which candidates are nominated or elected or in which voters pass upon any public question submitted to them, except that the provisions hereof shall be construed to be operative in municipal elections only in those instances in which they are made expressly so applicable.
Unless the context clearly requires a different meaning, as herein used:
"Voter" shall mean means any person who possesses the statutory and constitutional qualifications for voting;
"Election" shall mean means the procedure whereby the voters of this state or any subdivision thereof elect persons to fill public offices, or elect members of a constitutional convention, or vote on public questions;
"Any election" or "all elections" shall include means and includes every general or primary or special election held in this state, or in any of its subdivisions, for the purpose of nominating or electing federal or state officers, or county, city, town or village officers of any subdivision now existing or hereafter created, or for the purpose of electing members of a constitutional convention, or for voting upon any public question submitted to the people of the state or any of the aforesaid subdivisions;
"Office" shall be construed to mean means "public office" which shall include includes: (1) Any elective office provided for by the Constitution or laws of the United States or of this state to which a salary or other compensation attaches; and (2) membership in a constitutional convention;
"Candidate" shall mean means any person to be voted for at an election;
"Public question" shall mean means any issue or proposition, now or hereafter required by the governing body of this state or any of its subdivisions to be submitted to the voters of the state or subdivision for decision at elections;
The term "minor" as used in article four, section one of the state Constitution and as used in this chapter shall mean means a person who has not become eighteen years of age.
§3-1-31. Days and hours of elections.
General elections shall be held in the several election precincts of the state on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November of each even year. Primary and special elections shall be held on the days provided by law therefor.
At every primary or general or special election the polls shall be opened in each precinct on the day of such election at six-thirty o'clock in the forenoon and be closed at seven-thirty o'clock in the evening.
ARTICLE 6. CONDUCT AND ADMINISTRATION OF ELECTIONS.
§3-6-1. Provisions of article govern general elections;
applicability of other provisions of chapter; applicability of article to primary elections.

The provisions of this article shall govern the conduct and administration of general elections. Other provisions of this chapter, where applicable, shall be considered supplementary and complementary to the provisions of this article regulating and controlling general elections.
In all voting precincts in which voting machines have been approved, procured and are in use, the provisions of article four of this chapter shall be applicable to the conduct and administration of general elections.
Where applicable and not inconsistent with other positive provisions of law, the provisions of this article shall govern the conduct of and procedures in primary and special elections.





NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to eliminate special elections.

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