H. B. 2972
(By Delegates Palumbo, Amores, Wells, Walters,
Moore, Spencer, Webster, Iaquinta and Pino)
[Introduced February 9, 2007; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §3-4A-27 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to electronic voting systems; and
requiring the ballot to be clearly marked or punched for a
write-in position.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §3-4A-27 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4A. ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEMS.
§3-4A-27. Proceedings at the central counting center.
(a) All proceedings at the central counting center are to be
under the supervision of the clerk of the county commission and are
to be conducted under circumstances which allow observation from a
designated area by all persons entitled to be present. The
proceedings shall take place in a room of sufficient size and
satisfactory arrangement to permit observation. Those persons
entitled to be present include all candidates whose names appear on
the ballots being counted or if a candidate is absent, a representative of the candidate who presents a written
authorization signed by the candidate for the purpose and two
representatives of each political party on the ballot who are
chosen by the county executive committee chairperson. A reasonable
number of the general public is also freely admitted to the room.
In the event all members of the general public desiring admission
to the room cannot be admitted at one time, the county commission
shall provide for a periodic and convenient rotation of admission
to the room for observation, to the end that each member of the
general public desiring admission, during the proceedings at the
central counting center, is to be granted admission for reasonable
periods of time for observation:
Provided, That no person except
those authorized for the purpose may touch any ballot or ballot
card or other official records and papers utilized in the election
during observation.
(b) All persons who are engaged in processing and counting the
ballots are to work in teams consisting of two persons of opposite
political parties, and are to be deputized in writing and take an
oath that they will faithfully perform their assigned duties.
These deputies are to be issued an official badge or identification
card which is assigned an identity control number and the deputies
are to prominently wear on his or her outer garments the issued
badge or identification card. Upon completion of the deputies'
duties, the badges or identification cards are to be returned to
the county clerk.
(c) Ballots are to be handled and tabulated and the write-in votes tallied according to procedures established by the Secretary
of State, subject to the following requirements:
(1) In systems using punch card ballots, the ballot cards and
secrecy envelopes for a precinct are to be removed from the box and
examined for write-in votes before being separated and stacked for
delivery to the tabulator. Immediately after valid write-in votes
are tallied, the ballot cards are to be delivered to the tabulator.
No write-in vote may be counted for an office unless the voter has
entered the name of that office and the name of an official
write-in candidate for that office on the inside of the secrecy
envelope, either by writing, affixing a sticker or label or placing
an ink-stamped impression thereon
and has clearly punched the
ballot for the write-in position;
(2) In systems using ballots marked with electronically
sensible ink, ballots are to be removed from the boxes and stacked
for the tabulator which separates ballots containing marks for a
write-in position. Immediately after tabulation, the valid
write-in votes are to be tallied. No write-in vote may be counted
for an office unless the voter has entered the name of an official
write-in candidate for that office on the line provided, either by
writing, affixing a sticker or placing an ink-stamped impression
thereon
and has clearly marked the ballot with electronically
sensible ink for the write-in position;
(3) In systems using ballots in which votes are recorded upon
screens with a stylus or by means of touch, the personalized
electronic ballots are to be removed from the containers and stacked for the tabulator. Systems using ballots in which votes
are recorded upon screens with a stylus or by means of touch are to
tally write-in ballots simultaneously with the other ballots;
(4) When more than one person is to be elected to an office
and the voter desires to cast write-in votes for more than one
official write-in candidate for that office, a single punch or
mark, as appropriate for the voting system, in the write-in
location for that office is sufficient for all write-in choices.
When there are multiple write-in votes for the same office and the
combination of choices for candidates on the ballot and write-in
choices for the same office exceed the number of candidates to be
elected, the ballot is to be duplicated or hand counted, with all
votes for that office rejected;
(5) Write-in votes for nomination for any office and write-in
votes for any person other than an official write-in candidate are
to be disregarded;
(6) When a voter casts a straight ticket vote and also punches
or marks the location for a write-in vote for an office, the
straight ticket vote for that office is to be rejected, whether or
not a vote can be counted for a write-in candidate; and
(7) Official write-in candidates are those who have filed a
write-in candidate's certificate of announcement and have been
certified according to the provisions of section four-a, article
six of this chapter.
(d) If any ballot card is damaged or defective so that it
cannot properly be counted by the automatic tabulating equipment, a true duplicate copy is to be made of the damaged ballot card in
the presence of representatives of each political party on the
ballot and substituted for the damaged ballot card. All duplicate
ballot cards are to be clearly labeled "duplicate" and are to bear
a serial number which is recorded on the damaged or defective
ballot card and on the replacement ballot card.
(e) The returns printed by the automatic tabulating equipment
at the central counting center, to which have been added write-in
and other valid votes, are, when certified by the clerk of the
county commission, to constitute the official preliminary returns
of each precinct or election district. Further, all the returns
are to be printed on a precinct basis. Periodically throughout and
upon completion of the count, the returns are to be open to the
public by posting the returns as have been tabulated precinct by
precinct at the central counting center. Upon completion of the
canvass, the returns are to be posted in the same manner.
(f) If for any reason it becomes impracticable to count all or
a part of the ballots with tabulating equipment, the county
commission may direct that they be counted manually, following as
far as practicable the provisions governing the counting of paper
ballots.
(g) As soon as possible after the completion of the count, the
clerk of the county commission shall have the vote recording
devices properly boxed or securely covered and removed to a proper
and secure place of storage.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require ballots for
write-in positions to be clearly marked or punched.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.