WEST virginia legislature
2020 regular session
Committee Substitute
for
Senate Bill 785
Senators Trump and Cline, original sponsors
[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary; reported on February 21, 2020]
A BILL to amend and reenact §3‑3‑2a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to prohibiting electioneering within 100 feet from the outside entrance of community voting locations during early voting periods.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
Article 3. Voting by Absentees.
§3‑3‑2a. Early voting areas; prohibition against display of campaign material.
(a) The county commission shall designate the courthouse or annex to the courthouse as the primary location for early in‑person voting and, in addition, the commission may designate other locations as provided in subsection (b) of this section.
(b) The county commission may, with the approval of the county clerk or other official charged with the administration of elections, designate community voting locations for early in‑person voting, other than the county courthouse or courthouse annex, by a majority of the members of the county commission voting to adopt the same at a public meeting called for that purpose.
(1) The county commission shall publish a notice of its intent to designate a community voting location at least 30 days prior to the designation. Notice shall be by publication as a Class II‑0 legal advertisement in compliance with provisions of §59‑3‑1 et seq. of this code. The publication area is the county in which the community voting location or locations are designated;
(2) Community voting locations shall comply with requirements of this article for early in‑person voting, criteria prescribed by the Secretary of State, and the following criteria:
(A) The location can be scheduled for use during the early voting period;
(B) The location has the physical facilities necessary to accommodate early voting requirements;
(C) The location has adequate space for voting equipment, poll workers, and voters; and
(D) The location has adequate security, public accessibility, and parking.
(3) The county executive committees of the two major political parties may nominate sites to be used as community voting locations during the early voting period;
(4) Upon the designation of
a community voting location, the county clerk shall, not less than 30 days
prior to an election, give notice of the dates, times, and place of community
voting locations community voting location address and the dates and
times when the location will be open for early voting by publication as a
Class II‑0 legal advertisement in compliance with provisions of §59‑3‑1
et seq. of this code;
(5) Voting shall be
conducted at each designated community voting site location for a
period of not less than five consecutive days during the early in‑person
voting period authorized by §3‑3‑3 of this code, but need
not be conducted at each location for the entire period of early in‑person
voting;
(6) The county commission, with the approval of the county clerk, may authorize community voting locations on a rotating basis, wherein a community voting location may be utilized for less than the full period of early in‑person voting; and
(7) If more than one community voting location is designated, each location shall be utilized for an equal number of voting days and permit voting for the same number of hours per day.
(c) The Secretary of State shall propose legislative and emergency rules in accordance with the provisions of §29A‑3‑1 et seq. of this code as may be necessary to implement the provisions of this section. The rules shall include establishment of criteria to assure neutrality and security in the selection of community voting locations.
(d) Throughout the period
of early in‑person voting, the official designated to supervise and conduct
absentee early in‑person voting shall make the following
provisions for voting:
(1) The official 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
are to be in an area separate from, but within clear view of, the public
entrance area of the official's office or other area designated by the county
commission for absentee early in‑person voting and are to
be arranged to ensure the voter complete privacy in casting the ballot.
(2) The official 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 officials or employees of the
official designated to supervise and conduct absentee early in‑person
voting or members of the board of ballot commissioners assigned to conduct absentee
early in‑person voting, may enter the area or room set aside for
voting.
(3) (A) The official
designated to supervise and conduct absentee early in‑person
voting shall request the county commission designate another area within the
county courthouse, any annex of the courthouse or any other designated as early
in‑person community voting locations within the county, as a
portion of the official's office, for the purpose of absentee early
in‑person voting in the following circumstances:
(A) (i) If the voting area is not accessible to
voters with physical disabilities;
(B) (ii) If the voting area is not within clear
view of the public entrance of the office of the official designated to
supervise and conduct absentee early in‑person voting; or
(C) (iii) If there is no suitable area for absentee
early in‑person voting within the office.
(B) Any designated area is subject to the same
requirements as the regular absentee voting area primary
location for early in-person voting.
(4) The official designated
to supervise and conduct absentee early in‑person voting
shall have at least two representatives to assist with absentee early
in‑person voting: Provided, That the two representatives may
not be registered with the same political party affiliation or be two
persons registered with no political party affiliation. The representatives may
be full‑time employees, temporary employees hired for the period of absentee
early in‑person voting in person, or volunteers.
(5) 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 on the property of the county courthouse, any annex
facilities, or within 100 feet of the outside entrance of any other
designated early voting locations within the county during the entire period of
regular early in‑person absentee voting. The official
designated to supervise and conduct absentee early in‑person
voting is authorized to remove the material and to direct the sheriff of the
county to enforce the prohibition.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish a uniform electioneering prohibition area.
Strike‑throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.