Senate Bill No. 108
(By Senator Hunter)
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[Introduced January 11, 2006; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §3-4A-28 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to providing election materials, in
addition to equipment, may be opened for purposes of canvass
with the requirement that the materials must be resealed
immediately after opening.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §3-4A-28 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4A. ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEMS.
§3-4A-28. Post-election custody and inspection of vote-recording
devices; canvass and recounts.
(a) The vote-recording devices, the ballot labels, ballot
cards, program decks and standard validation test decks are to
remain sealed during the canvass of the returns of the election
except that the
materials and equipment may be opened for the
canvass and must be resealed immediately thereafter. During a
seven-day period after the completion of the canvass, any candidate or the local chair of a political party may be permitted to examine
any of the materials sealed:
Provided, That a notice of the time
and place of the examination is to be posted at the central
counting center before and on the hour of nine o'clock in the
morning on the day the examination is to occur, and all persons
entitled to be present at the central counting center may, at their
option, be present. Upon completion of the canvass and after a
seven-day period has expired, the vote-recording devices, the
ballot labels, ballot cards, program decks and standard validation
test decks are to be sealed for one year:
Provided, however, That
the vote-recording devices and all tabulating equipment may be
released for use in any other lawful election to be held more than
ten days after the canvass is completed, and any of the electronic
voting equipment herein discussed may be released for inspection or
review by a request of a circuit court or the Supreme Court of
Appeals.
(b) In canvassing the returns of the election, the Board of
Canvassers shall examine all of the vote-recording devices, the
ballot labels, ballot cards, the automatic tabulating equipment
used in the election and those voter verified paper ballots
generated by direct recording electronic vote machines as required
by subsection (d) of this section, and shall determine the number
of votes cast for each candidate and for and against each question
and by this examination shall procure the correct returns and
ascertain the true results of the election. Any candidate or his
or her party representative may be present at the examination.
(c) If any candidate demands a recount of the votes cast at an
election, the voter verified paper ballot shall be used for
requested recounts, according to the same rules as are utilized in
the original vote count pursuant to section twenty-seven of this
article.
(d) During the canvass and any requested recount, at least
five percent of the precincts are to be chosen at random and the
voter verified paper ballots are to be counted manually. Whenever
the vote total obtained from the manual count of the voter verified
paper ballots for all votes cast in a randomly selected precinct:
(1) Differs by more than one percent from the automated vote
tabulation equipment; or
(2) Results in a different prevailing candidate or outcome,
either passage or defeat, of one or more ballot issues such
precincts for any contest or ballot issue; then the discrepancies
shall immediately be disclosed to the public and all of the
voter-verified paper ballots shall be manually counted. In every
case that there is a difference between the vote totals obtained
from the automated vote tabulation equipment and the corresponding
vote totals obtained from the manual count of the voter-verified
paper ballots, the manual count of the voter-verified paper ballots
shall be the vote of record.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide election
materials, in addition to equipment, may be opened for purposes of
canvass with the requirement that these materials, as is currently
required for equipment, must be resealed immediately after opening.
Strike-throughs indicate language which would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language which
would be added.
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