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Senate Bill No. 535
(By Senators Palumbo, Wells, McCabe and Fitzsimmons)
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[Introduced March 14, 2013; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary .]
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A BILL to repeal §3-2-24 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended; to amend and reenact §3-1-3 of said code; and to
amend and reenact §3-2-2, §3-2-4a, §3-2-18, §3-2-19, §3-2-21,
§3-2-23, §3-2-25 and §3-2-29 of said code, all relating to the
maintenance of voter registration lists and related records;
making technical corrections and deleting obsolete references;
updating and clarifying the persons entitled to vote;
clarifying when a person under the age of eighteen may vote in
a primary election; updating the processes and
responsibilities for statewide voter registration and
clarifying county and state roles in the voter registration
process; updating the processes of maintaining voter
registration records; clarifying county roles in maintaining
voter registration files for municipal elections; updating processes for the maintenance of records in the statewide
voter registration database; updating processes for
cancellation of deceased or ineligible voters' registrations;
clarifying county and state roles in the systematic purging
program for removal of ineligible voters from active voter
registration records; and clarifying custody of paper and
electronic voter registration records.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §3-2-24 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be repealed; that §3-1-3 of said code be amended and reenacted; and
that §3-2-2, §3-2-4a, §3-2-18, §3-2-19, §3-2-21, §3-2-23, §3-2-25
and §3-2-29 of said code be amended and reenacted, all to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 2. REGISTRATION OF VOTERS.
§3-1-3. Persons entitled to vote.
Citizens of the state shall be entitled to vote at all
elections held within the precincts of the counties and
municipalities in which they respectively reside. But no person
who has not been registered as a voter as required by law, or who
is a minor, or of unsound mind who has been judged mentally
incompetent, or who is under conviction of treason, felony or
election bribery, in an election, or who is not a bona fide
resident of the state, county or municipality in which he or she offers to vote, shall be permitted to vote at such election while
such disability continues, unless otherwise specifically provided
by federal or state code. Subject to the qualifications otherwise
prescribed in this section, however, a minor shall be permitted to
vote only in a primary election if he or she will have reached the
age of eighteen years on the date of the general election next to
be held after such primary election.
ARTICLE 2. REGISTRATION OF VOTERS.
§3-2-2. Eligibility to register to vote.
(a) Any person who possesses the constitutional qualifications
for voting may register to vote. To be qualified, a person must be
a citizen of the United States and a legal resident of West
Virginia and of the county where he or she is applying to register,
shall be at least eighteen years of age, except that a person who
is at least seventeen years of age and who will be eighteen years
of age by the time of the next ensuing general election may also be
permitted to register, and shall not be otherwise legally
disqualified: Provided, That a registered voter who has not
reached eighteen years of age may vote both partisan and
nonpartisan ballots in a federal, state, or county, municipal or
special primary election, but may only vote in a municipal primary
election if he or she will be eighteen years of age by the time of
the next municipal corresponding general election. but is not eligible to vote in a special election.
(b) Any person who has been convicted of a felony, treason or
election bribery, in an election, under either state or federal
law, is disqualified and is not eligible to register or to continue
to be registered to vote while serving his or her sentence,
including any period of incarceration, probation or parole related
thereto. Any person who has been determined to be mentally
incompetent by a court of competent jurisdiction is disqualified
and shall not be eligible to register or to continue to be
registered to vote for as long as that determination remains in
effect.
§3-2-4a. Statewide voter registration database.
(a) The Secretary of State shall implement and maintain a
single, official, statewide, centralized, interactive computerized
voter registration list database of every legally registered voter
in the state, which shall include the following as follows:
(1) The computerized list statewide voter registration
database shall serve as the single system for storing and managing
the official list of registered voters throughout the state.
(2) The computerized list statewide database shall contain the
name, registration information and voter history of every legally
registered voter in the state.
(3) Under the computerized list, In the statewide database, the Secretary of State shall assign a unique identifier to each
legally registered voter in the state.
(4) The computerized list statewide database shall be
coordinated with other agency databases within the state and
elsewhere, as appropriate; including, but not limited to, the vital
statistics database maintained by the Department of Health and
Human Resources Office of Technology. The Department of Health and
Human Resources by January 31st of each calendar year Office of
Technology shall provide by the last day of each month to each
county clerk the Secretary of State a list from this their
database, separated by county, of all decedents in that county in
the preceding year and shall provide to the Secretary of State the
list of all decedents in the state in the preceding year. the state
since the date of the last reporting period. The Secretary of
State shall make this information available to each county clerk
through the statewide voter registration database for processing by
the clerk or the clerk's designee.
(5) The Secretary of State, and any clerk of the county
commission, or any authorized designee of the Secretary of State or
clerk of the county commission may obtain immediate electronic
access to the information contained in the computerized list
statewide database.
(6) The clerk of the county commission shall electronically enter voter registration information into the computerized list
statewide database on an expedited basis at the time the
information is provided to the clerk.
(7) The Secretary of State shall provide necessary support to
enable every clerk of the county commission in the state to enter
information as described in subdivision (6) of this subsection.
(8) The computerized list statewide database shall serve as
the official voter registration list for conducting all elections
in the state.
(b) The Secretary of State or any clerk of a county commission
shall perform maintenance with respect to the computerized list
statewide database on a regular basis as follows:
(1) If an individual is to be removed from the computerized
list statewide database, he or she shall be removed in accordance
with the provisions of 42 U.S.C. §1973gg, et seq., the National
Voter Registration Act of 1993.
(2) The Secretary of State shall coordinate the computerized
list statewide database with state agency records and remove the
shall establish procedures for the removal of names of individuals
who are not qualified to vote because of felony status or death. :
Provided, That No state agency may withhold information regarding
a voter's status as deceased or as a felon unless ordered by a
court of law. Provided , however, the Secretary of State shall, in each calendar year, certify that the removal of individuals who are
not qualified to vote because of a felony conviction as provided in
section two of this article or death is completed at least thirty
days preceding the date of any primary election.
(c) The list maintenance performed under subsection (b) of
this section shall be conducted in a manner that ensures that:
(1) The name of each registered voter appears in the
computerized list statewide database;
(2) Only voters who are not registered, who have requested in
writing that their voter registration be canceled, or who are not
eligible to vote are removed from the computerized list statewide
database;
(3) Duplicate names are eliminated from the computerized list
statewide database;
(4) Deceased individuals names are eliminated from the
computerized list statewide database.
(d) The Secretary of State and the clerks of all county
commissions shall provide adequate technological security measures
to prevent the unauthorized access to the computerized list
statewide database established under this section.
(e) The Secretary of State shall ensure that voter
registration records in the state are accurate and updated
regularly, including the following:
(1) A system of file maintenance that makes a reasonable
effort to remove registrants who are ineligible to vote from the
official list of eligible voters. Under the system, consistent
with 42 U.S.C. §1973gg, et seq., registrants who have not responded
to a notice sent pursuant to section twenty six, article two of
this chapter, who have not otherwise updated their voter
registration address and who have not voted in two consecutive
general elections for federal office shall be removed from the
official list of eligible voters, except that no registrant may be
removed solely by reason of a failure to vote; and
(2) Safeguards to ensure that eligible voters are not removed
in error from the official list of eligible voters.
(f) Applications for voter registration may only be accepted
when the following information is provided:
(1) Except as provided in subdivision (2) of this subsection
and notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, an
application for voter registration may not be accepted or processed
unless the application includes:
(A) In the case of an applicant who has been issued a current
and valid driver's license, the applicant's driver's license
number;
(B) In the case of an applicant who has been issued an
identification card by the Division of Motor Vehicles, the applicant's identification number; or
(C) In the case of any other applicant, the last four digits
of the applicant's social security number; and
(2) If an applicant for voter registration has not been issued
a current and valid driver's license, Division of Motor Vehicles'
identification card or a social security number, the Secretary of
State shall assign the applicant a number which will serve to
identify the applicant for voter registration purposes. To the
extent that the state has a computerized list statewide database in
effect under this section and the list database assigns unique
identifying numbers to registrants, the number assigned under this
section shall be the unique identifying number assigned under the
list database.
(g) The Secretary of State and the Commissioner of the
Division of Motor Vehicles shall enter into an agreement to match
and transfer applicable information in the database of the
statewide voter registration system database with information in
the database of the Division of Motor Vehicles to the extent
required to enable each official to verify the accuracy of the
information provided on applications for voter registration.
(h) The Commissioner of the Division of Motor Vehicles shall
enter into an agreement with the Commissioner of Social Security
under 42 U.S.C. §301 §405, et seq., the Social Security Act. All fees associated with this agreement shall be paid for from moneys
in the fund created under section twelve, article two of this
chapter.
§3-2-18. Registration records; active, inactive, canceled, pending
and rejected registration files; procedure; voting
records.
(a) For the purposes of this article:
(1) "Original voter registration record" means all records
submitted or entered in writing or electronically, where permitted
by law, for voter registration purposes, including:
(A) Any original application or notice submitted by any person
for registration or reinstatement, change of address, change of
name, change of party affiliation, correction of records,
cancellation, confirmation of voter information or other request or
notice for voter registration purposes; and
(B) Any original entry made on any voter's registration record
at the polling place, or made or received by the clerk of the
county commission relating to any voter's registration, such as
records of voting, presentation of identification and proof of age,
challenge of registration, notice of death or obituary notice,
notice of disqualifying conviction or ruling of mental incompetence
or other original document which may affect the status of any
person's voter registration.
(2) "Active voter registration files records" means the files
of registration records, whether maintained on paper forms or in
digitized data electronic format, containing the names, addresses,
birth dates and other required information for all persons within
a county who are registered to vote and whose registration has not
been designated as "inactive" or "canceled" pursuant to the
provisions of this article.
(3) "Inactive voter registration files records" means the
files of registration records, whether maintained on paper forms or
in digitized data electronic format, containing the names,
addresses, birth dates and other required information for all
persons designated "inactive" pursuant to the provisions of section
twenty-seven of this article following the return of the prescribed
notices as undeliverable at the address provided by the United
States Postal Service or entered on the voter registration or for
failure of the contacted voter to return a completed confirmation
notice within thirty days of the mailing. For the purposes of this
chapter or of any other provisions of this code relating to
elections conducted under the provisions of this chapter, whenever
a requirement is based on the number of registered voters,
including, but not limited to, the number of ballots to be printed,
the limitations on the size of a precinct, or the number of
petition signatures required for election purposes, only those registrations included on the active voter registration files shall
be counted and voter registrations included on the inactive voter
registration files, as defined in this subdivision, shall not be
counted.
(4) "Canceled voter registration files records" means the
files records containing all required information for all persons
who have been removed from the active and inactive voter
registration files records and who are no longer registered to vote
within the county.
(5) "Pending application files records" means the temporary
files records containing all information submitted on a voter
registration application, pending the expiration of the
verification period.
(6) "Rejected application files records" means the files
records containing all information submitted on a voter
registration application which was rejected for reasons as
described in this article.
(7) "Confirmation pending records" means the records
containing all required information for persons who have been
identified to be included in the next succeeding mailing of address
confirmation notices as set forth by the "National Voter
Registration Act of 1993."(42 U.S.C. 1973gg),
____(b) For the purposes of this chapter or of any other provisions of this code relating to elections conducted under the
provisions of this chapter, whenever a requirement is based on the
number of registered voters, including, but not limited to, the
number of ballots to be printed, the limitations on the size of a
precinct, or the number of petition signatures required for
election purposes, only those registrations included on the active
voter registration files shall be counted and voter registrations
included on the inactive voter registration files, as defined in
this subdivision, shall not be counted.
____(b) (c) Active voter registration files records, confirmation
pending records and inactive voter registration files records may
be maintained in the same physical location or database, providing
the records are coded, marked or arranged in such a way as to make
the status of the registration immediately obvious. Canceled voter
registration files records, pending application files records, and
rejected application files records shall each may be maintained in
separate physical locations. or databases. However, all such
records shall be maintained in the statewide voter registration
database, subject to a retention schedule.
____(c) (d) The effective date of any action affecting any voter's
registration status shall be entered on the voter record in the
appropriate file, including the effective date of registration,
change of name, address or party affiliation or correction of the record, effective date of transfer to inactive status, return to
active status or cancellation. When any registration is designated
inactive or is canceled, the reason for the designation or
cancellation and any reference notation necessary to locate the
original documentation related to the change shall be entered on
the voter record.
(d) (e) Within one hundred twenty days after each primary,
general, municipal or special election, the clerk of the county
commission shall, as evidenced by the presence or absence of
signatures on the pollbooks for such election, correct any errors
or omissions on the voter registration records resulting from the
poll clerks erroneously checking or failing to check the
registration records as required by the provisions of section
thirty-four, article one of this chapter, or shall enter the voting
records into the statewide voter registration database. uniform
data system if the precinct books have been replaced with printed
registration books as provided in section twenty-one of this
article.
§3-2-19. Maintenance of active and inactive registration files for
municipal elections.
(a) Each county shall continue to maintain a record of each
active and inactive voter registration in precinct registration
books until the statewide voter registration system is adopted pursuant to the provisions of section four-a of this article, fully
implemented and given final approval by the Secretary of State.
The precinct registration books shall be maintained as follows:
(1) Each active voter registration shall be entered in the
precinct book or books for the county precinct in which the voter's
residence is located and shall be filed alphabetically by name,
alphabetically within categories, or by numerical street address,
as determined by the clerk of the county commission for the
effective administration of registration and elections. No active
voter registration record shall be removed from the precinct
registration books unless the registration is lawfully transferred
or canceled pursuant to the provisions of this article.
(2) Each voter registration which is designated "inactive"
pursuant to the procedures prescribed in section twenty-seven of
this article shall be retained in the precinct book for the county
precinct in which the voter's last recorded residence address is
located until the time period expires for which a record must
remain on the inactive files. Every inactive registration shall be
clearly identified by a prominent tag or notation or arranged in a
separate section in the precinct book clearly denoting the
registration status. No inactive voter registration record shall
be removed from the precinct registration books unless the
registration is lawfully transferred or canceled pursuant to the provisions of this article.
(b) (a) For municipal elections, the registration records of
active and inactive voters shall be maintained as follows:
(1) County precinct books shall Clerks of the county
commissions shall prepare pollbooks or voter lists to be used in
municipal elections when the county precinct boundaries and the
municipal precinct boundaries are the same and all registrants of
the precinct are entitled to vote in state, county and municipal
elections within the precinct or when the registration records of
municipal voters within a county precinct are separated and
maintained in a separate municipal section or book for that county
precinct and can be used either alone or in combination with other
precinct books pollbooks or voter lists to make up a complete set
of registration records for the municipal election precinct.
(2) Upon request of the municipality, and if the clerk of the
county commission does not object, separate municipal precinct
books shall be maintained in cases where municipal or ward
boundaries divide county precincts and it is impractical to use
county precinct books pollbooks or voter lists or separate
municipal sections of those precinct books pollbooks or voter
lists. If the clerk of the county commission objects to the
request of a municipality for separate municipal precinct books,
the State Election Commission must determine whether the separate municipal precinct books should be maintained.
(3) No registration record may be removed from a municipal
registration record unless the registration is lawfully transferred
or canceled pursuant to the provisions of this article in both the
county and the municipal registration records.
(c) (b) Within thirty days following the entry of any
annexation order or change in street names or numbers, the
governing body of an incorporated municipality shall file with the
clerk of the county commission a certified current official
municipal boundary map and a list of streets and ranges of street
numbers within the municipality to assist the clerk in determining
whether a voter's address is within the boundaries of the
municipality.
(d) Each county, so long as precinct registration books are
maintained, shall maintain a duplicate record of every active and
inactive voter registration in a county alphabetical file. The
alphabetical file may be maintained on individual paper forms or,
upon approval of the Secretary of State of a qualified data storage
program, may be maintained in digitized format. A qualified data
storage program shall be required to contain the same information
for each voter registration as the precinct books, shall be subject
to proper security from unauthorized alteration and shall be
regularly duplicated to backup data storage to prevent accidental destruction of the information on file.
§3-2-21. Maintenance of records in the statewide voter
registration database in lieu of precinct record
books.
(a) The clerk of the county commission of each county upon
installation of the state uniform voter data system, shall prepare
maintain a "Voter Registration Data System Record" book into which
all required records of appointments of authorized personnel,
tests, repairs, program alterations or upgrades and any other
action by the clerk of the county commission or by any other person
under supervision of the clerk affecting the programming or records
contained in the system, other than routine data entry, alteration,
use, transfer or transmission of records shall be entered.
(b) The clerk of the county commission shall appoint all
personnel authorized to add, change or transfer voter registration
information within the statewide uniform voter registration
database system, and a record of each appointment and the date of
authorization shall be entered as provided in subsection (a) of
this section. The assignment and confidential record of assigned
system identification or authorized user code for each person
appointed shall be as prescribed by the Secretary of State.
(c) Voter registration records entered into and maintained in
the statewide uniform voter registration database system shall include the information required for application for voter
registration, for maintenance of registration and voting records,
for conduct of elections and for statistical purposes, as
prescribed by the Secretary of State.
(d) No person shall make any entry or alteration of any voter
record which is not specifically authorized by law. Each entry or
action affecting the status of a voter registration shall be based
on information in an original voter registration record, as defined
in section eighteen of this article.
(e) The clerk of the county commission shall maintain, within
the statewide database, system, active and inactive voter
registration files records, confirmation pending records, canceled
voter registration files records, pending application files
records, and rejected application files records, all as defined in
section eighteen of this article.
(f) Upon receipt of a completed voter registration
application, the clerk shall enter into the statewide voter
registration database the information provided on the application,
mark the records as pending, and into the pending application file
and initiate the verification or notice of disposition procedure as
provided in section sixteen of this article. Upon completion of
the verification or notice of disposition, the status of the voter
record shall be transferred to the proper file properly noted in the statewide database.
(g) Upon receipt of an application or written confirmation
from the voter of a change of address within the county, change of
name, change of party affiliation or other correction to a an
active voter registration record, in the active voter registration
file, the change shall be entered in the record and the required
notice of disposition mailed.
(h) Upon receipt of an application or written confirmation
from the an inactive voter of a change of address within the
county, change of name, change of party affiliation or other
correction to a registration record, in the inactive voter
registration file, the change shall be entered in the record, the
required notice of disposition mailed and the record transferred
updated to the active registration file or returned to active
status, and the date of the transaction shall be recorded. Receipt
of an application or written confirmation from an inactive voter
that confirms the voter's current address shall be treated in the
same manner.
(i) Upon receipt of a notice of death, a notice of conviction
or a notice of a determination of mental incompetence, as provided
for in section twenty-three of this article, the date and reason
for cancellation shall be entered on the voter's record and the
record status shall be transferred changed to the canceled. voter registration file.
(j) Upon receipt from the voter of a request for cancellation
or notice of change of address to an address outside the county
pursuant to the provisions of section twenty-two of this article,
or as a result of a determination of ineligibility through a
general program of removing ineligible voters as authorized by the
provisions of this article, the date and reason for cancellation
shall be entered on the voter's record and the record status shall
be transferred changed to the canceled. voter registration file.
(k) At least once each month during a period prescribed by the
Secretary of State, the clerk of the county commission of each
county utilizing the state uniform voter data system shall transmit
to the Secretary of State, by electronic transmission or by the
mailing of one or more data disks or other approved means, a copy
of the active, inactive and pending application files as of the
date of transmission, for the purpose of comparison of those
records to the voter registration records of other counties in the
state and for any other list maintenance procedures authorized by
the provisions of this article.
(l) The Secretary of State shall promulgate legislative rules
pursuant to the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of this code
establishing procedures for the elimination of separate precinct
registration books as the official active and inactive voter registration files and for the use of the state uniform voter data
system to maintain all files, to produce voter lists for public
inspection and to produce precinct voter records for election day
use. Separate precinct registration books shall be maintained
pursuant to the provisions of section nineteen of this article
until all necessary provisions required for the conduct of
elections at the polling place and for the implementation of the
provisions of this chapter have been made. When a county is
authorized to use the state uniform voter data system exclusively
for all prescribed files, the clerk of the county commission shall
transfer the original voter records contained in the precinct
registration books to alphabetical record storage files which shall
be retained in accordance with the provisions of section twenty-
nine of this article, and any rules issued pursuant thereto.
§3-2-23. Cancellation of registration of deceased or ineligible
voters.
The clerk of the county commission shall cancel the
registration of a voter:
(a) Upon the voter's death as verified by:
(1) A death certificate from the Registrar of Vital Statistics
or a notice from the Secretary of State that a comparison of the
records of the registrar with the county voter registration records
show the person to be deceased;
(2) The publication of an obituary or other writing clearly
identifying the deceased person by name, residence and age
corresponding to the voter record; or
(3) An affidavit signed by the parent, legal guardian, child,
sibling or spouse of the voter giving the name and birth date of
the voter, and date and place of death;
(b) Upon receipt of an official notice from a state or federal
court that the person has been convicted of a felony, of treason or
election bribery; in an election, in which event, the clerk shall
enter a notation on the voter record of the date upon which the
term of any sentence for such conviction will cease, unless sooner
vacated by court action or pardon;
(c) Upon receipt of a notice from the appropriate court of
competent jurisdiction of a determination of a voter's mental
incompetence;
(d) Upon receipt from the voter registration of a written
request to cancel the voter's registration, upon confirmation by
the voter of a change of address to an address outside the county,
upon notice from a voter registrar of another jurisdiction outside
the county or state of the receipt of an application for voter
registration in that jurisdiction, or upon notice from the
Secretary of State that a voter registration application accepted
in another county of the state subsequent to the last registration date in the first county, as determined from a comparison of voter
records; or
(e) Upon failure to respond and produce evidence of continued
eligibility to register following the challenge of the voter's
registration pursuant to the provisions of section twenty-eight of
this article. or
(f) As required under the provisions of section twenty-seven
of this article.
§3-2-25. Systematic purging program for removal of ineligible
voters from active voter registration records.
(a) In any county maintaining active voter registration files
in the state uniform voter data system, as defined in section
twenty of this article, The systematic purging program provided for
in this section shall begin no earlier than October 1, of each odd-
numbered year and shall be completed no later than February 1 of
the following year. The clerk of the county commission shall
transmit or mail to the Secretary of State a certification that the
systematic purging program has been completed and all voters
identified as no longer eligible to vote have been canceled in the
statewide voter registration database in accordance with the law no
later than February 15 in the year in which the purging program is
completed. on data disk to the Secretary of State a copy of the
digitized records contained in the active voter registration file as of October 1, to be received by the Secretary of State no later
than October 15, .
(b) Upon receipt of the voter records in data format, The
Secretary of State shall provide for the comparison of data records
of all participating counties. The Secretary of State shall, based
on the comparison, prepare a data file or printed list for each
county which shall include the voter registration record for each
voter shown on that county's list who appears to have registered or
to have updated a voter registration in another county at a
subsequent date. The resulting files and/or lists shall be
returned to the appropriate county and the clerk of the county
commission shall proceed with the confirmation procedure for those
voters as prescribed in section twenty-six of this article.
(c) The Secretary of State may provide for the comparison of
data records of participating counties with the data records of the
Division of Motor Vehicles, the registrar of vital statistics and
with the data records of any other state agency which maintains
records of residents of the state, if the procedure is practical
and the agency agrees to participate. Any resulting information
regarding potentially ineligible voters shall be returned to the
appropriate county and the clerk of the county commission shall
proceed with the confirmation procedure as prescribed in section
twenty-six of this article.
(d) The records of all of the voters of all participating
counties not identified pursuant to the procedures set forth in
subsections (b) and (c) of this section shall be combined for
comparison with United States Postal Service change of address
information, as described in
s
ection 8 (c)(A) of the "National
Voter Registration Act of 1993" (42 U.S.C. 1973gg). The Secretary
of State shall contract with an authorized vendor of the United
States Postal Service to perform the comparison. Not less than
thirty percent nor more than fifty percent of The cost of the
change of address comparison procedure shall be paid for from the
combined voter registration and licensing fund established in
section twelve of this article and participating counties shall
reimburse the fund for the balance of the cost prorated on a per
voter basis the cost of the confirmation notices, labels and
postage shall be paid for by the counties.
(e) The Secretary of State shall return to each county the
identified matches of the county voter registration records and the
postal service change of address records.
(1) When the change of address information indicates the voter
has moved to a new address within the county, the clerk of the
county commission shall enter the new address on the voter record
in the active registration file and assign the proper precinct.
(2) The clerk of the county commission shall then mail to each voter who appears to have moved from the residence address shown on
the registration records a confirmation notice pursuant to section
twenty-six of this article and of section 8(d)(2) of the "National
Voter Registration Act of 1993" (42 U.S.C. 1973gg). The notice
shall be mailed, no later than December 31, to the new address
provided by the postal service records or to the old address if a
new address is not available.
(f) The clerk of the county commission shall prepare a list
containing indicate in the statewide voter registration database
the name and address of each voter to whom a confirmation notice
was mailed and the date on which the notice was mailed. The list
shall be titled "Systematic Purging Program Notices" and shall
include the name of the county and the date of the preparation of
the list and shall be arranged in alphabetical order within
precincts or for the entire county.
(g) Upon receipt of any response or returned mailing sent
pursuant to the provisions of subsection (e) of this section, the
clerk shall immediately enter the date and type of response
received on in the list of voters prepared pursuant to the
provisions of this section statewide voter registration database
and shall then proceed in accordance with the provisions of section
twenty-six of this article.
(h) For purposes of complying with the record keeping and public inspection requirements of the "National Voter Registration
Act of 1993" (42 U.S.C. 1973gg), and with the provisions of section
twenty-seven of this article, the public inspection lists shall be
maintained either in printed form kept in a binder prepared for
such purpose and available for public inspection during regular
business hours at the office of the clerk of the county commission
or in read-only data format available for public inspection on
computer terminals set aside and available for regular use by the
general public. Information concerning whether or not each person
has responded to the notice shall be entered onto the list into the
statewide database upon receipt and shall be available for public
inspection as of the date the information is received.
(i) Any voter to whom a confirmation notice was mailed
pursuant to the provisions of subsection (e) of this section who
fails to respond to the notice or to update his or her voter
registration address by February 1 immediately following the
completion of the program, shall be designated inactive in the
statewide database. and placed within the inactive voter
registration file, as defined in section nineteen of this article.
Any voter designated inactive shall be required to affirm his or
her current residence address upon appearing at the polls to vote
on a form prescribed by the Secretary of State.
_____(j) A county which uses a digitized data system for voter registration other than the state uniform voter data system shall
conduct the systematic purging program for removal of ineligible
voters from active voter registration files by contracting directly
with an authorized vendor of the United States postal service for
change of address information, at county expense, for the
identification of potentially ineligible voters, and upon receipt
of the list of matches, shall perform the steps required by the
provisions of subsections (e) through (i) of this section within
the same time limits and procedures required for those counties
participating in the state approved system.
(k) (j) In addition to the preceding purging procedures, all
counties using the change of address information of the United
States Postal Service shall also, once each four years during the
period established for systematic purging in the year following a
presidential election year, conduct the same procedure by mailing
a confirmation notice to those persons not identified as
potentially ineligible through the change of address comparison
procedure but who have not updated their voter registration records
and have not voted in any election during the preceding four
calendar years. The purpose of this additional systematic
confirmation procedure shall be to identify those voters who may
have moved without filing a forwarding address, moved with a
forwarding address under another name, died in a another county or state so that the certificate of death was not returned to the
clerk of the county commission, or who otherwise have become
ineligible.
§3-2-29. Custody of original registration records.
(a) All original registration records and voter registration
data files in paper format shall remain in the custody of the
county commission, by its clerk, or, electronically, in the
statewide voter registration database and shall not be removed
except for use in an election or by the order of a court of record
or in compliance with a subpoena duces tecum issued by the
Secretary of State pursuant to the provisions of section six,
article one-a of this chapter.
(b) All original voter registration records shall be retained
for a minimum of five years following the last recorded activity
relating to the record, except that any application which
duplicates and does not alter an existing registration shall be
retained for a minimum of two years following its receipt. The
Secretary of State shall promulgate rules pursuant to the
provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of this code for the specific
retention times and procedures required for original voter
registration records.
(c) Prior to the destruction of original voter registration
applications or registration cards of voters whose registration has been canceled at least five years previously, the clerk of the
county commission shall notify the Secretary of State of the
intention to destroy those records. If the Secretary of State
determines, within ninety days of the receipt of the notice, that
those records are of sufficient historical value that microfilm or
other permanent data storage is desirable, the Secretary of State
may require that the records be delivered to a specified location
for processing at state expense.
(d) When a county maintains in digitized data format the
Active, inactive, pending, rejected and canceled registration
files, a data format copy of each of the files records shall be
maintained as a permanent record, as follows:
(1) Individual canceled registration records shall be
maintained in a regularly accessible data file the statewide voter
registration database for a period of at least three five years
following cancellation. Upon the expiration of three five years,
those individual records may be removed from the regularly
accessible canceled registration file and stored on tape or disk
statewide voter registration database and disposed of in accordance
with the appropriate documentent retention policy. The records
removed may be added to a single file containing previously
canceled registration records for permanent storage, and the tape
or disk shall be clearly labeled.
(2) Rejected registration record records files shall be
maintained in the same manner as provided for canceled registration
files records.
(3) At least once each calendar year, during the month of
February, a data format copy of the active registration file,
inactive registration file and pending application file shall be
made containing all records maintained in those files as of the
date of the copy. The copy shall be stored on tape or disk and
shall be clearly labeled with the types of files and the date the
copy was made.
NOTE:
The purpose of this bill is to update and clarify the
process for
the maintenance of voter registration lists and related
records; to making technical corrections and delete obsolete
references related to that process; to updating and clarify the
persons entitled to vote; to clarify when a person under the age of
eighteen may vote in a primary election; to update the processes
and responsibilities for statewide voter registration and to
clarify county and state roles in the voter registration process;
to update the processes of maintaining voter registration records;
to clarify county roles in maintaining voter registration files for
municipal elections; to update processes for the maintenance of
records in the statewide voter registration database; to update
processes for cancellation of deceased or ineligible voters'
registrations; to clarify county and state roles in the systematic
purging program for removal of ineligible voters from active voter
registration records; and to clarify custody of paper and
electronic voter registration records
.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.