Senate Bill No. 656
(By Senator Kessler)
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[Introduced February 23, 1998; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary; and then to the Committee on
Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section ten, article five, chapter
three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and reenact
section three, article six of said chapter, all relating to
elections; publication of sample ballots; deleting
requirement that ballot commissioners publish list of
candidates; and requiring ballots to be published as Class
II-O rather than Class I-O legal advertisement.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section ten, article five, chapter three of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; and that section three, article six of
said chapter be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. PRIMARY ELECTIONS AND NOMINATING PROCEDURES.
§3-5-10. Publication of sample ballots.
(a) The ballot commissioners of each county shall prepare a
sample official primary ballot for each party, and, as the case
may be, for the nonpartisan candidates to be voted for at the
primary election, according to the provisions of articles four,
four-a and five, chapter three, as appropriate to the voting
system. If any ballot issue is to be voted on in the primary
election, the ballot commissioners shall likewise prepare a
sample official ballot for that issue according to the provisions
of law authorizing such election.
(b) The facsimile sample ballot for each political party and
for nonpartisan candidates or ballot issues shall be published as
follows:
(1)
For counties in which two or more qualified newspapers
publish a daily newspaper, not more than fourteen nor less than
eight days preceding the primary election, the ballot
commissioners shall publish each sample official primary election
ballot as a Class I-0 legal advertisement in the two qualified
daily newspapers of different political parties within the county
having the largest circulation in compliance with the provisions
of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code;
(2) For counties having no more than one daily newspaper, or having only one or more qualified newspapers which publish
weekly, not more than fourteen nor less than eight days preceding
the primary election, the ballot commissioners shall publish the
sample official primary election ballot as a Class I legal
advertisement in the qualified newspaper within the county having
the largest circulation in compliance with the provisions of
article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code; During the two
weeks prior to the primary election, the ballot commissioners
shall publish each sample primary election ballot as a Class II-O
legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article
three, chapter fifty-nine of this code. The first publication
shall not be less than ten days and not more than fourteen days
prior to the primary election. The second publication shall be
on the last day upon which each newspaper is published before the
election. The publication area for such publications shall be
the county; and
(3) (2) Each facsimile sample ballot shall be a photographic
reproduction of the official sample ballot or ballot pages, and
shall be printed in a size no less than eighty percent of the
actual size of the ballot, at the discretion of the ballot
commissioners:
Provided, That when the ballots for the precincts
within the county contain different senatorial, delegate,
magisterial or executive committee districts or when the ballots for precincts within a city contain different municipal wards,
the facsimile shall be altered to include each of the various
districts in the appropriate order. If, in order to accommodate
the size of each ballot, the ballot or ballot pages must be
divided onto more than one page, the arrangement and order shall
be made to conform as nearly as possible to the arrangement of
the ballot. The publisher of the newspaper shall submit a proof
of the ballot and the arrangement to the ballot commissioners for
approval prior to publication.
(c) The ballot commissioners of each county shall prepare,
in the form and manner prescribed by the secretary of state, an
official list of offices and candidates for each office which
will appear on the primary election ballot for each party, and,
as the case may be, for the nonpartisan candidates to be voted
for at such primary election. All information which appears on
the ballot, including instructions as to the number of candidates
for whom votes may be cast for the office, any additional
language which will appear on the ballot below the name of the
office, any identifying information relating to the candidates,
such as residence, magisterial district or presidential
preference and the ballot numbers of the candidates for punch
card systems, shall be included in the list, in the same order in
which it appears on the ballot. Following the names of all candidates, the list shall include the full title, text and
voting positions of any issue to appear on the ballot.
(d) The official list of candidates and issues as provided
in subsection (c) of this section shall be published as follows:
(1) For counties in which two or more qualified newspapers
publish a daily newspaper, on the last day on which a newspaper
is published immediately preceding the primary election, the
ballot commissioners shall publish the official list of
candidates and issues as a Class I-0 legal advertisement in the
two qualified daily newspapers of different political parties
within the county having the largest circulation in compliance
with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this
code;
(2) For counties having no more than one daily newspaper, or
having only one or more qualified newspapers which publish
weekly, on the last day on which a newspaper is published
immediately preceding the primary election, the ballot
commissioners shall publish the sample official list of nominees
and issues as a Class I legal advertisement in the qualified
newspaper within the county having the largest circulation in
compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty- nine of this code;
(3) The publication of the official list of candidates for each party and for nonpartisan candidates shall be in single or
double columns, as required to accommodate the type size
requirements as follows: (A) The words "Official List of
Candidates", the name of the county, the words "Primary
Election", the date of the election, the name of the political
party or the designation of nonpartisan candidates shall be
printed in all capital letters and in bold type no smaller than
fourteen point. The designation of the national, state, district
or other tickets shall be printed in all capital letters in type
no smaller than fourteen point; (B) the title of the office shall
be printed in bold type no smaller than twelve point and any
voting instructions or other language printed below the title
shall be printed in bold type no smaller than ten point; and (C)
the names of the candidates shall be printed in all capital
letters in bold type no smaller than ten point, and the residence
information shall be printed in type no smaller than ten point;
and
(4) When any ballot issue is to appear on the ballot, the
title of that ballot shall be printed in all capital letters in
bold type no smaller than fourteen point. The text of the ballot
issue shall appear in no smaller than ten point type. The ballot
commissioners may require the publication of the ballot issue
under this subsection in the facsimile sample ballot format in lieu of the alternate format.
ARTICLE 6. CONDUCT AND ADMINISTRATION OF ELECTIONS.
§3-6-3. Publication of sample ballots.
(a) The ballot commissioners of each county shall prepare a
sample official general election ballot for all political party
or independent nominees, nonpartisan candidates for election, if
any, and all ballot issues to be voted for at the general
election, according to the provisions of articles four, four-a
and six of this chapter, as appropriate to the voting system, and
for any ballot issue, according to the provisions of law
authorizing such election.
(b) The facsimile sample general election ballot shall be
published as follows:
(1) For counties in which two or more qualified newspapers
publish a daily newspaper, not more than fourteen nor less than
eight days preceding the general election, the ballot
commissioners shall publish the sample official general election
ballot as a Class I-0 legal advertisement in the two qualified
daily newspapers of different political parties within the county
having the largest circulation in compliance with the provisions
of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code;
(2) (1) For counties having no more than one daily
newspaper, or having only one or more qualified newspapers which publish weekly, not more than fourteen nor less than eight days
preceding the primary election, the ballot commissioners shall
publish the sample official general election ballot as a Class I
legal advertisement in the qualified newspaper within the county
having the largest circulation in compliance with the provisions
of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code; During the
two weeks prior to the general election, the ballot commissioners
shall publish each sample general election ballot as a Class II-O
legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article
three, chapter fifty-nine of this code. The first publication
shall be not less than ten days and not more than fourteen days
prior to the general election. The second publication shall be
on the last day upon which each newspaper is published before the
election. The publication area for such publication shall be the
county; and
(3) (2) Each facsimile sample ballot shall be a photographic
reproduction of the official sample ballot or ballot pages, and
shall be printed in a size no less than eighty percent of the
actual size of the ballot, at the discretion of the ballot
commissioners:
Provided, That when the ballots for the precincts
within the county contain different senatorial, delegate,
magisterial or executive committee districts or when the ballots
for precincts within a city contain different municipal wards, the facsimile shall be altered to include each of the various
districts in the appropriate order. If, in order to accommodate
the size of each ballot, the ballot or ballot pages must be
divided onto more than one page, the arrangement and order shall
be made to conform as nearly as possible to the arrangement of
the ballot. The publisher of the newspaper shall submit a proof
of the ballot and the arrangement to the ballot commissioners for
approval prior to publication.
(c) The ballot commissioners of each county shall prepare,
in the form and manner prescribed by the secretary of state, an
official list of offices and nominees for each office which will
appear on the general election ballot for each political party,
or as independent nominees, and, as the case may be, for the
nonpartisan candidates to be voted for at the general election.
(1) All information which appears on the ballot, including
the names of parties for which a straight ticket may be cast,
instructions relating to straight ticket voting, instructions as
to the number of candidates for whom votes may be cast for the
office, any additional language which will appear on the ballot
below the name of the office, any identifying information
relating to the candidates, such as residence, magisterial
district, or presidential preference, and the ballot numbers of
the candidates for punch card systems, shall be included in the list, in the order specified in subdivision (2) of this
subsection. Following the names of all candidates, the list
shall include the full title, text and voting positions of any
issue to appear on the ballot.
(2) The order of the straight ticket positions, offices and
candidates for each office, and the manner of designating the
parties, shall be as follows: (A) The straight ticket positions
shall be designated "Straight (Party Name) Ticket", with the
parties listed in the order in which they appear on the ballot,
from left to right or from top to bottom, as the case may be; (B)
the offices shall be listed in the same order in which they
appear on the ballot; (C) the candidates within each office for
which one is to be elected shall be listed in the order they
appear on the ballot, from left to right or from top to bottom,
as the case may be, and the candidate's political party
affiliation or independent status shall be indicated by the one
or two letter initial specifying the affiliation, placed in
parenthesis to the right of the candidate's name; and (D) the
candidates within each office for which more than one is to be
elected shall be arranged by political party groups in the order
they appear on the ballot, and the candidate's affiliation shall
be indicated as provided in part (C) of this subdivision.
(d) The official list of candidates and issues as provided in subsection (c) of this section shall be published as follows:
(1) For counties in which two or more qualified newspapers
publish a daily newspaper, on the last day on which a newspaper
is published immediately preceding the general election, the
ballot commissioners shall publish the official list of nominees
and issues as a Class I-0 legal advertisement in the two
qualified daily newspapers of different political parties within
the county having the largest circulation in compliance with the
provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code;
(2) For counties having no more than one daily paper, or
having only one or more qualified newspapers which publish
weekly, on the last day on which a newspaper is published
immediately preceding the general election, the ballot
commissioners shall publish the sample official list of nominees
and issues as a Class I legal advertisement in the qualified
newspaper within the county having the largest circulation in
compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty- nine of this code;
(3) The publication of the official list of nominees for
each party and for nonpartisan candidates shall be in single or
double columns, as required to accommodate the type size
requirements as follows: (A) The words "Official List of
Nominees and Issues", the name of the county, the words "General Election" and the date of the election shall be printed in all
capital letters and in bold type no smaller than fourteen point;
(B) the designation of the straight ticket party positions shall
be printed in all capital letters in bold type no smaller than
twelve point, and the title of the office shall be printed in
bold type no smaller than twelve point, and any voting
instructions or other language printed below the title shall be
printed in bold type no smaller than ten point; and (C) the names
of the candidates and the initial within parenthesis designating
the candidate's affiliation shall be printed in all capital
letters in bold type no smaller than ten point, and the residence
information shall be printed in type no smaller than ten point;
and
(4) When any ballot issue is to appear on the ballot, the
title of that ballot shall be printed in all capital letters in
bold type no smaller than twelve point. The text of the ballot
issue shall appear in no smaller than ten point type. The ballot
commissioners may require the publication of the ballot issue
under this subsection in the facsimile sample ballot format in
lieu of the alternate format.
NOTE: This bill requires the ballot to be published as a
Class II-O advertisement rather than Class I-O advertisement and
deletes the requirement that a list of candidates be published.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.