H. B. 2769
(By Delegates Douglas, Staton, Pino and Johnson)
[Introduced February 24, 1995; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact sections five and ten, article two,
chapter three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and
reenact section eleven-a, article four-a of said chapter
three, all relating to voter registration and ballot
printing specifications; and providing that certain
information on a voter registration application be requested
but not required; removing the provision that voter
registration applications by mail be postage-free; and that
ink colors would be substituted for paper colors for primary
election ballots for ballots marked with electronically sensible ink or pencil.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections five and ten, article two, chapter three of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that section eleven-a,
article four-a of said chapter three be amended and reenacted,
all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. REGISTRATION OF VOTERS.
§3-2-5. Forms for application for registration; information
required and requested; types of application forms;
notices.
(a) (1) All state forms for application for voter
registration shall be prescribed by the secretary of state and
shall conform with the requirements of the "National Voter
Registration Act of 1993" (42 U.S.C. 1973gg) and the requirements
of the provisions of this article. Separate application forms
may be prescribed for voter registration conducted by the clerk
of the county commission, registration by mail, registration in
conjunction with an application for motor vehicle driver's
license and registration at designated agencies. These forms may
consist of one or more parts, may be combined with other forms for use in registration by designated agencies or in conjunction
with driver licensing, and may be revised and reissued as
required by the secretary of state to provide for the efficient
administration of voter registration. After the first day of
January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five, all state forms
issued for the purpose of voter registration shall be those
prescribed pursuant to the provisions of this article, and no
form used or issued for voter registration pursuant to laws in
effect before that date shall be provided to any person for the
purpose of registration.
(2) Notwithstanding any provisions of subdivision (1) of
this subsection to the contrary, the federal postcard application
for voter registration issued pursuant to the "Uniformed and
Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986" (42 U.S.C. 1973 et
seq.), and the mail voter registration application form
prescribed by the Federal Election Commission pursuant to the
"National Voter Registration Act of 1993" (42 U.S.C. 1973gg)
shall be accepted as a valid form of application for registration
pursuant to the provisions of this article.
(b) Each application form for registration shall include:
(1) A statement specifying the eligibility requirements for
registration and an attestation that the applicant meets each
eligibility requirement;
(2) Any specific notice or notices required for a specific
type or use of application by the "National Voter Registration
Act of 1993" (42 U.S.C. 1973gg);
(3) A notice that a voter may be permitted to vote the
partisan primary election ballot of a political party only if the
voter has designated that political party on the application for
registration, unless the political party has determined
otherwise; and
(4) Any other instructions or information essential to
complete the application process.
(c) Each application form shall require that the following
be provided by the applicant, under oath, and any application
which does not contain each of the following shall be considered
incomplete:
(1) The applicant's legal name, including the first name,
middle or maiden name, if any, and last name;
(2) The month, day and year of the applicant's birth;
(3) The applicant's gender; and
(4) (3) The applicant's residence address, including the
number and street or route and city and county of residence
except:
(A) In the case of a person eligible to register under the
provisions of the "Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee
Voting Act", (42 U.S.C. 1973ff), the address at which he or she
last resided before leaving the United States or entering the
uniformed services, or if a dependent child of such a person, the
address at which his or her parent last resided; and
(B) In the case of a homeless person having no fixed
residence address who nevertheless resides and remains regularly
within the county, the address of a shelter, assistance center or
family member with whom he or she has regular contact, or other
specific location approved by the clerk of the county commission
for the purposes of establishing a voting residence; and
(5) (4) The applicant's signature, under penalty of perjury,
as provided in section thirty-six of this article, to the
attestation of eligibility to register to vote and to the truth
of the information given. and
(6) The date the application is signed.
(d) The applicant shall be requested to provide the
following information, but no application shall be rejected for
lack of this information:
(1) An indication whether the application is for a new
registration, change of address, change of name or change of
party affiliation;
(2) The applicant's choice of political party affiliation,
if any, or an indication of no affiliation: Provided, That any
applicant who does not enter any choice of political party
affiliation shall be listed as having no party affiliation on the
voting record;
(3) The applicant's home mailing address, if different than
the residence address;
(4) The last four digits of the applicant's social security
number;
(5) The applicant's telephone number; and
(6) The address at which the applicant was last registered
to vote, if any, for the purpose of canceling or transferring the
previous registration;
(7) The applicant's gender; and
(8) The date the application is signed.
(e) The secretary of state shall prescribe the printing
specifications of each type of voter registration application and
the voter registration application portion of any form which is
part of a combined agency form.
(f) Application forms prescribed in this section may refer
to various public officials by title or official position, but in
no case may the actual name of any officeholder be printed on the
voter registration application or on any portion of a combined
application form.
(g) No later than the first day of July of each odd-numbered
year, the secretary of state shall submit the specifications of
the voter registration application by mail for statewide bidding
for a contract period beginning the first day of September of
each odd-numbered year and continuing for two calendar years.
The successful bidder shall produce and supply the required mail
voter registration forms at the contract price to all purchasers
of the form for the period of the contract.
§3-2-10. Application for registration by mail.
(a) Any qualified person may apply to register, change,
transfer or correct his or her voter registration by mail.
Application shall be made on a prescribed form as provided by
section five of this article. and the voter shall not be
required to pay postage to mail the completed application
(b) To the extent possible with funds allocated annually for
such purpose, the secretary of state shall make state mail
registration forms available for distribution through
governmental and private entities and organized voter
registration programs. The secretary of state shall make a
record of all requests by entities or organizations for ten or
more forms with a description of the dates and locations in which
the proposed registration drive is to be conducted. The
secretary of state may limit the distribution to a reasonable
amount per group.
(c) The clerk of the county commission shall provide up to
four mail registration forms to any resident of the county upon
request. To the extent possible with funds allocated annually
for the purpose, the clerk of the county commission shall make
state mail registration forms available for distribution through organized voter registration programs within the county. The
clerk of the county commission shall make a record of all
requests by entities or organizations for ten or more forms with
a description of the dates and locations in which the proposed
registration drive is to be conducted. The clerk may limit the
distribution to a reasonable amount per group.
(d) The applicant shall provide all required information and
only after completing the information, sign the prescribed
applicant's oath under penalty of perjury, as provided in section
thirty-six of this article. No person may alter or add any entry
or make any mark which would alter any material information on
the voter registration application after the applicant has signed
the oath: Provided, That the clerk of the county commission may
correct any entry upon the request of the applicant provided the
request is properly documented and the correction is dated and
initialed by the clerk.
(e) Completed applications shall be mailed or delivered to
the clerk of the county commission of the county in which the
voter resides. If a clerk receives a completed mail application
form from a voter whose residence address is located in another county, the clerk shall forward that application within three
days to the clerk of the county commission of the county of the
applicant's residence.
(f) Upon receipt of the application for registration by the
appropriate clerk of the county commission, the clerk shall:
(1) Attempt to establish whether the residence address given
is within the boundaries of an incorporated municipality and, if
so, make the proper entry required for municipal residents to be
properly identified for municipal voter registration purposes;
and
(2) Immediately begin the verification process required by
the provisions of section sixteen of this article.
(g) Any person who registers by mail pursuant to this
section shall be required to make his or her first vote in person
at the polls or in person at the office of the clerk of the
circuit court to vote an absentee ballot in order to make the
registration valid: Provided, That any person who has applied
for an absentee ballot pursuant to the provisions of subdivision
(1), subsection (d), section one, article three of this chapter
or paragraph (B), subdivision (2) of said subsection or subdivision (3) of said subsection or of subsection (e) of said
section shall not have his or her ballot in that election
challenged for failure to appear in person or for failure to
present identification.
(h) Any person required by this section to make his or her
first vote in person shall present valid identification and proof
of age to the clerks at the poll or at the office of the clerk of
the circuit court or the clerk of the county commission of the
county in which he or she is registered before casting the first
ballot.
(i) Any person who submits a state mail voter registration
application to the clerk of the county commission in the county
in which he or she is currently registered for the purpose of
entering a change of address within the county, making a change
of party affiliation or recording a change of legal name shall
not be required to make his or her first vote in person or to
present identification or proof of age.
ARTICLE 4A. ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEMS.
§3-4A-11a. Ballots tabulated electronically; arrangement,
quantity to be printed, ballot stub numbers.
(a) The board of ballot commissioners in counties using ballots upon which votes may be recorded by means of marking with
electronically sensible ink or pencil and which marks are
tabulated electronically shall cause the ballots to be printed
for use in elections.
(b) (1) The heading of the ballot, the arrangement of
offices in columns, the spaces for marking votes, the printing of
offices, instructions and candidates names shall conform as
nearly as possible to that prescribed in this chapter for paper
ballots, except that the secretary of state may prescribe
necessary modifications to accommodate the tabulating system.
Nonpartisan elections for board of education and any question to
be voted upon shall be separated from the partisan ballot and
separately headed in display type with a title clearly
identifying the purpose of the election, and such separate
section shall constitute a separate ballot wherever a separate
ballot is required under the provisions of this chapter.
(2) Both the face and the reverse side of the ballot may
contain the names of candidates, only if means to ensure the
secrecy of the ballot are provided and lines for the signatures
of the poll clerks on the ballot are printed on a portion of the ballot which is deposited in the ballot box and upon which marks
do not interfere with the proper tabulation of the votes.
(3) The arrangement of candidates within each office shall
be determined in the same manner as for other electronic voting
systems, as prescribed in this chapter. On the general election
ballot for all offices, and on the primary election ballot only
for those offices to be filled by election, except delegate to
national convention, lines for entering write-in votes shall be
provided below the names of candidates for each office, and the
number of lines provided for any office shall equal the number of
persons to be elected, or three, whichever is fewer. The words
"WRITE-IN, IF ANY" shall be printed directly under each line for
write-ins. Such lines shall be opposite a position to mark the
vote.
(c) The primary election ballots shall be printed in the
color ink specified by the secretary of state for the various
political parties, and the general election ballot shall be
printed in black ink. All ballots shall be printed on white
paper suitable for automatic tabulation, and in the color
specified by the secretary of state and shall contain a perforated stub at the top or bottom of the ballot which shall be
numbered sequentially in the same manner as provided in this
article for ballots upon which votes are recorded by means of
perforating. The number of ballots printed and the packaging of
ballots for the precincts shall conform to the requirements for
paper ballots as provided in this chapter.
(d) In addition to the official ballots, the ballot
commissioners shall provide all other materials and equipment
necessary to the proper conduct of the election.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to amend voter
registration and ballot printing specifications; it provides that
certain information on a voter registration application be
requested but not required; it removes the provision that voter
registration applications by mail be postage-free; and that ink
colors would be substituted for paper colors for primary election
ballots for ballots marked with electronically sensible ink or
pencil.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.