Senate Bill No. 448
(By Senator Hunter)
____________
[Introduced March 24, 1997; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
____________
A BILL to amend and reenact section two-a, article three, chapter
three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to eliminating the
prohibition of electioneering within three hundred feet of
the clerk's office during absentee voting.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section two-a, article three, 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 3. VOTING BY ABSENTEES.
§3-3-2a. Voting booths within public view to be provided by clerk; prohibition against display of campaign material.
Throughout the period of absentee voting in person in the
clerk's office as provided in this article, the circuit clerk shall make the following provisions for voting:
(a) The clerk shall provide a sufficient number of voting
booths or devices appropriate to the voting system at which
voters may prepare their ballots. The booths or devices shall be
in an area separate from but within clear view of the public
entrance area of the clerk's office, and shall be arranged to
ensure the voter complete privacy in casting the ballot.
(b) The clerk shall make the voting area secure from
interference with the voter and shall ensure that voted and
unvoted ballots are at all times secure from tampering. No
person, other than a person lawfully assisting the voter
according to the provisions of this chapter, may be permitted to
come within five feet of the voting booth while the voter is
voting. No person, other than the clerk or deputy clerks or
members of the board of ballot commissioners assigned to conduct
absentee voting, shall enter the area or room set aside for
voting.
(c) When the voting area of the office of the clerk is not
fully accessible to voters with physical disabilities, the clerk
shall request the county commission to designate an accessible
room within the same building as a portion of the clerk's office
for the purpose of absentee voting only by persons unable to use
the regular area. The area shall be subject to the same
requirements as the regular voting area.
(d) No person may do any electioneering, nor may any person
display or distribute in any manner, or authorize the display or
distribution of, any literature, posters or material of any kind
which tends to influence the voting for or against any candidate
or any public question within the whole area of the clerk's
office or within three hundred feet thereof courthouse or annex
in which the office of the circuit clerk is located during the
entire period of absentee voting. The clerk is hereby authorized
to remove such the material and to direct the sheriff of the
county to enforce the prohibition.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to eliminate the
prohibition of electioneering within three hundred feet of the
clerk's office during the period of absentee voting.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.