COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 496
(By Senators Kessler, Oliverio, White, McKenzie and Plymale)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported February 20, 2008.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §3-2-30 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to protecting certain information
maintained in voter registration files.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §3-2-30 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. REGISTRATION OF VOTERS.
§3-2-30. Public inspection of voter registration records in the
office of the clerk of the county commission; providing
voter lists for noncommercial use; prohibition against
resale of voter lists for commercial use or profit.
(a)
Any person may examine the active, inactive, rejected and
canceled voter registration records
shall be made available for
public inspection during office hours of the clerk of the county
commission in accordance with the provisions of chapter
twenty-nine-b of this code as follows:
(1) When the active and inactive files are maintained on
precinct registration books, any person
shall be allowed to may
examine
these the files under the supervision of the clerk and obtain copies of records except when a precinct book is in
temporary use for updating and preparing lists or during the time
the books are sealed for use in an election. Other original voter
registration records, including canceled voter records, pending
applications, rejected applications, records of change requests,
reinstatements and other documents, shall be available for
inspection upon specific request;
and
(2) When the active, inactive, rejected and canceled voter
files are maintained in data format, any person
shall be allowed to
may examine voter record information in printed form or in a
read-only data format on a computer terminal set aside for public
use, if available. The data files available
for examination and
copying shall include all registration and voting information
maintained in the file,
except that but may not include the
registrant's telephone number,
and social security number
or
driver's license number or nonoperator's identification number
issued by the Division of Motor Vehicles of any voter shall not be
available for inspection or copying in any format.
(b) Printed lists of registered voters may be purchased for
noncommercial use from the clerk of the county commission at a cost
of one cent per name.
(c) In counties maintaining active and inactive files in
digitized data format, the clerk of the county commission shall,
upon request, prepare printed copies of the lists of voters for
each precinct. No list prepared under this section may include the
registrant's telephone number,
or social security number
or
driver's license number or nonoperator's identification number
issued by the Division of Motor Vehicles of the registrant. The clerk shall establish a written policy,
which shall be posted
within public view, listing the options
which may be requested for
selection and sorting criteria and available data elements.
The
data elements which shall include, at least:
(1) The name, residence address, political party affiliation
and status
of the registrant;
and
(2) The
format available formats of the lists; and
(3) The times at which lists will be prepared. A copy of the
county policy shall be filed with the Secretary of State no later
than the first day of January of each even-numbered year.
(d) In counties which maintain voter files in a digitized data
format, lists of registered voters may be obtained for
noncommercial purposes in data format on disk provided and prepared
by the clerk of the county commission at a cost of one cent per
name plus ten dollars for each disk required. No data file
prepared under this subsection may include the
registrant's
telephone number,
or social security number
or driver's license
number or nonoperator's identification number issued by the
Division of Motor Vehicles of the registrant.
(e) The fees received by the clerk of the county commission
shall be kept in a separate fund under the supervision of the clerk
for the purpose of defraying the cost of the preparation of the
voter lists. Any unexpended balance in the fund shall be
transferred to the general fund of the county commission.
(f) The Secretary of State may make voter lists available for
sale subject to the limitations as provided in this section for
counties. The cost for a partial list shall be one and one-half
cents per name plus ten dollars for each disk required; the cost for a complete statewide list shall be one-half cent per name and
a flat fee of one thousand dollars. One cent per name for each
voter from a particular county on each partial list and one-half
cent per name for each voter from a particular county on each
statewide list sold shall be reimbursed to the appropriate county.
The disk fee and one-half cent per name associated with a partial
list and the flat fee of one thousand dollars associated with a
complete statewide list shall be deposited to a special revenue
account for purpose of defraying the cost of
the preparation of
preparing the lists.
(g) An update to a previously purchased list may be provided
by the Secretary of State or the clerk of the county commission at
a prorated cost based on the amount of additional information
provided. The additional rates charged by the clerk of the county
commission shall be specified in the policy established pursuant to
subsection (c) of this section.
(h) No voter registration lists or data files containing
the
voter names, addresses or other information
relating to voters
derived from voter data files obtained pursuant to the provisions
of this article may be used for commercial or charitable
solicitations or advertising, sold or reproduced for resale.