WEST virginia legislature

2021 regular session

Introduced

House Bill 2666

By Delegates Holstein, Pritt, Wamsley, Kimble, Barnhart, and Keaton

[Introduced February 23, 2021; Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary]

A BILL to amend and reenact §3-3-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to absentee voting; providing that no exception other than listed in this section shall permit an individual to apply for an absentee ballot; and providing that any attempt to falsely claim eligibility shall be punishable under the law.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 3. VOTING BY ABSENTEES.

§3-3-2. Authority to conduct absentee voting; absentee voting application; form.

(a) Absentee voting is to be supervised and conducted by the proper official for the political division in which the election is held, in conjunction with the ballot commissioners appointed from each political party, as follows:

(1) For any election held throughout the county, within a political subdivision or territory other than a municipality, or within a municipality when the municipal election is conducted in conjunction with a county election, the clerk of the county commission; or

(2) The municipal recorder or other officer authorized by charter or ordinance provisions to conduct absentee voting, for any election held entirely within the municipality, or in the case of annexation elections, within the area affected. The terms “clerk” or “clerk of the county commission” or “official designated to supervise and conduct absentee voting” used elsewhere in this article means municipal recorder or other officer in the case of municipal elections.

(b) A person authorized and desiring to vote a mail-in absentee ballot or an electronic absentee ballot in any primary, general, or special election is to make application in the proper form to the proper official as follows:

(1) The completed application is to be on a form prescribed by the Secretary of State and is to contain the name, date of birth, and political affiliation of the voter, residence address within the county, the address to which the ballot is to be mailed, the authorized reason, if any, for which the absentee ballot is requested and, if the reason is illness or hospitalization, the name and telephone number of the attending physician, the signature of the voter to a declaration made under the penalties for false swearing as provided in §3-3-9 of this code that the statements and declarations contained in the application are true, any additional information which the voter is required to supply, any affidavit which may be required, and an indication as to whether it is an application for voting in person, by mail, or electronically;

(2) For any person authorized to vote an absentee ballot under the provisions of 42 U.S.C. §1973, et seq., the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986, the completed application may be on the federal postcard application for absentee ballot form issued under authority of that act, submitted by mail or electronically; and

(3) For any voter with a physical disability, the completed application may be submitted by mail or electronically, in a form prescribed by the Secretary of State;

(4) For any person unable to obtain the official form for absentee balloting at a reasonable time before the deadline by which an application for an absentee ballot is to be received by the proper official, the completed application may be in a form set out by the voter, containing all information that would otherwise be required on the appropriate application and the signature of the voter requesting the ballot; or

(5) For any person authorized to vote an absentee ballot who is participating in the Address Confidentiality Program as established by §48-28A-103 of this code, application may be made to the program manager within the office of the Secretary of State to vote a mail-in absentee ballot. The program manager will notify the designated county contact to coordinate the application and the provision of an absentee ballot to the program participant.

(6) No exception other than listed in this subsection shall permit an individual to apply for an absentee ballot and any attempt to falsely claim eligibility shall be punishable under the law.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that no exception other than listed in this section [WV Code §3-3-2] shall permit an individual to apply for an absentee ballot; and any attempt to falsely claim eligibility shall be punishable under the law.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.