Senate Bill No. 495
(By Senators Kessler, Love, Oliverio and Plymale)
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[Introduced January 30, 2008; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §3-1-46 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to training programs for election
officials.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §3-1-46 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS.
§3-1-46. Training program for election officials.
(a) The Secretary of State in conjunction with the State
Election Commission shall produce one or more audio-visual programs
which explain and illustrate the procedures for conducting
elections, the duties of the various election officials and the
methods of voting on each voting system in use in the state.
(b) One copy of the appropriate training program shall be
distributed to and kept and preserved by the clerk of the county commission of each county. The program shall be shown to all
election officials before each election as part of their
instructional program. The clerk of the county commission shall
conduct an adequate number of sessions to train all election
officials shall schedule the regular sessions not less than seven
days before each election and shall notify all election officials
of the exact date, time and place such instructional program will
be conducted.
(c) No person may serve as an election commissioner or poll
clerk in any election unless he or she has attended the
instructional program required by subsection (a) of this section
within thirty days prior to an election. If an election official
fails to attend the instructional program, another person shall be
appointed in the election official's place in the same manner as
persons are appointed under the provisions of section thirty of
this article to replace election officials refusing to serve and
the clerk of the county commission shall conduct an additional
instructional program within seven days prior to the election for
any such person so appointed:
Provided, That in cases of emergency
when no person who has attended the instructional program for that
election is available to fill a vacancy on the election board, the
clerk of the county commission may appoint such person as a
commissioner or poll clerk notwithstanding that such person has not
received the instruction.
(d) The requirements of this section apply to all elections
conducted by municipalities, except that the recorder or municipal
clerk responsible for the election shall perform the duties of the
clerk of the county commission defined in this section. The clerk
of the county commission may assist the recorder or municipal clerk
in conducting the instructional program.
(e) When the instructional program is not being used by the
clerk for instructional purposes, it shall be available to any duly
organized civic, religious, educational or charitable group without
charge, except that the clerk shall require a cash deposit on such
use in an amount to be determined by the Secretary of State.
(f) The Secretary of State shall cause the instructional
program to be amended, edited or reproduced whenever he or she is
of the opinion such revision is necessary in light of changes in
the election laws of this state.
(g) No elected official may appear in such program either in
person or by visual image or by name.
(h) Every county clerk shall attend a training, to be
conducted by the Secretary of State every two years, for the
purpose of reviewing the election official training and receiving
updates on election law matters.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require poll worker
training within thirty days prior to an election.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.