WEST virginia Legislature

2016 regular session

Introduced

House Bill 4708

By Delegate Lane

[Introduced February 23, 2016; Referred
to the Committee on the Judiciary.]

A BILL to amend and reenact §3-2-3, §3-2-4a and §3-2-23 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to additional duties for the Secretary of State relating to voter registration.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That §3-2-3, §3-2-4a and §3-2-23 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:

 ARTICLE 2. REGISTRATION OF VOTERS.

§3-2-3. State authority relating to voter registration; chief election official.

(a) The Secretary of State, as chief election official of the state as provided in section six, article one-a of this chapter, shall have general supervision of the voter registration procedures and practices and the maintenance of voter registration records in the state and shall have authority to require reports and investigate violations to ensure the proper conduct of voter registration throughout the state and all of its subdivisions. The Secretary of State may make changes in the voter registration data necessary to comply with list maintenance requirements of sections four-a, twenty-three, twenty-five, twenty-six and twenty-seven of this article.

(b) The Secretary of State, as chief election official of the state, is responsible for implementing, in a uniform and nondiscriminatory manner, a single, uniform, official, centralized, interactive computerized statewide voter registration list defined, maintained and administered at the state level that contains the name and registration information of every legally registered voter in the state and assigns a unique identifier to each legally registered voter in the state.

(c) The Secretary of State is hereby designated as the chief election official responsible for the coordination of this state's responsibilities under 42 U.S.C. §1973gg, et seq., the "National Voter Registration Act of 1993". The Secretary of State shall have general supervision of voter registration procedures and practices at agencies and locations providing services as required by the provisions of this article and shall have the authority to propose procedural, interpretive and legislative rules for promulgation in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code for application for registration, transmission of applications, reporting and maintenance of records required by the provisions of this article and for the development, implementation and application of other provisions of this article.

§3-2-4a. Statewide voter registration database.

(a) The Secretary of State shall implement and maintain a single, official, statewide, centralized, interactive computerized voter registration database of every legally registered voter in the state, as follows:

(1) The statewide voter registration database shall serve as the single system for storing and managing the official list of registered voters throughout the state.

(2) The statewide voter registration database shall contain the name, registration information and voter history of every legally registered voter in the state.

(3) In the statewide voter registration database, the Secretary of State shall assign a unique identifier to each legally registered voter in the state.

(4) The statewide voter registration database shall be coordinated with other agency databases within the state and elsewhere, as appropriate.

(5) The Secretary of State, any clerk of the county commission or any authorized designee of the Secretary of State or clerk of the county commission may obtain immediate electronic access to the information contained in the statewide voter registration database.

(6) The clerk of the county commission shall electronically enter voter registration information into the statewide voter registration database on an expedited basis at the time the information is provided to the clerk.

(7) The Secretary of State shall provide necessary support to enable every clerk of the county commission in the state to enter information as described in subdivision (6) of this subsection.

(8) The statewide voter registration database shall serve as the official voter registration list for conducting all elections in the state.

(b) The provisions of subdivision (6), subsection (a) of this section notwithstanding, the Secretary of State or any clerk of a county commission shall perform maintenance with respect to the statewide voter registration database on a regular basis as follows:

(1) If an individual is to be removed from the statewide voter registration database, he or she shall be removed in accordance with the provisions of 42 U. S. C. §1973gg, et seq., the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.

(2) The Secretary of State shall coordinate the statewide voter registration database with state agency records and shall establish procedures for the removal of names of individuals who are not qualified to vote because of felony status or death. No state agency may withhold information regarding a voter=s status as deceased or as a felon unless ordered by a court of law.

(c) The list maintenance performed under subsection (b) of this section shall be conducted in a manner that ensures that:

(1) The name of each registered voter appears in the statewide voter registration database;

(2) Only voters who are not registered, who have requested in writing that their voter registration be canceled or who are not eligible to vote are removed from the statewide voter registration database;

(3) Duplicate names are eliminated from the statewide voter registration database; and

(4) Deceased individuals= names are eliminated from the statewide voter registration database.

(d) The Secretary of State and the clerks of all county commissions shall provide adequate technological security measures to prevent the unauthorized access to the statewide voter registration database established under this section.

(e) The Secretary of State shall ensure, and may perform such maintenance necessary to ensure, that voter registration records in the state are accurate and updated regularly, including the following:

(1) A system of file maintenance that makes a reasonable effort to remove registrants who are ineligible to vote from the official list of eligible voters. Under the system, consistent with 42 U. S. C. §1973gg, et seq., registrants who have not responded to a notice sent pursuant to section twenty six, article two of this chapter, who have not otherwise updated their voter registration address and who have not voted in two consecutive general elections for federal office shall be removed from the official list of eligible voters, except that no registrant may be removed solely by reason of a failure to vote;

(2) By participation in programs across state lines to share data specifically for voter registration to ensure that voters who have moved across state lines or become deceased in another state are removed in accordance with state law and 42 U. S. C. §1973gg, et seq.; and

(3) Through safeguards to ensure that eligible voters are not removed in error from the official list of eligible voters.

(f) Applications for voter registration may only be accepted when the following information is provided:

(1) Except as provided in subdivision (2) of this subsection and notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, an application for voter registration may not be accepted or processed unless the application includes:

(A) In the case of an applicant who has been issued a current and valid driver=s license, the applicant=s driver=s license number;

(B) In the case of an applicant who has been issued an identification card by the Division of Motor Vehicles, the applicant=s identification number; or

(C) In the case of any other applicant, the last four digits of the applicant=s Social Security number; and

(2) If an applicant for voter registration has not been issued a current and valid driver=s license, Division of Motor Vehicles identification card or a Social Security number, the Secretary of State shall assign the applicant a number which will serve to identify the applicant for voter registration purposes. The number assigned under this subdivision shall be the unique identifying number assigned under the statewide voter registration database.

(g) The Secretary of State and the Commissioner of the Division of Motor Vehicles shall enter into an agreement to match and transfer applicable information in the statewide voter registration database with information in the database of the Division of Motor Vehicles to the extent required to enable each official to verify the accuracy of the information provided on applications for voter registration.

(h) The Commissioner of the Division of Motor Vehicles shall enter into an agreement with the Commissioner of Social Security under 42 U. S. C. §401, et seq., the Social Security Act. All fees associated with this agreement shall be paid for from moneys in the fund created under section twelve of this article.

§3-2-23. Cancellation of registration of deceased or ineligible voters.

The Secretary of State or clerk of the county commission shall cancel the registration of a voter:

(1) Upon the voter=s death as verified by:

(A) A death certificate from the Registrar of Vital Statistics or a notice from the Secretary of State that a comparison of the records of the registrar with the county voter registration records show the person to be deceased;

(B) The publication of an obituary or other writing clearly identifying the deceased person by name, residence and age corresponding to the voter record; or

(C) An affidavit signed by the parent, legal guardian, child, sibling or spouse of the voter giving the name and birth date of the voter, and date and place of death;

(2) Upon receipt of an official notice from a state or federal court that the person has been convicted of a felony, of treason or bribery in an election;

(3) Upon receipt of a notice from the appropriate court of competent jurisdiction of a determination of a voter=s mental incompetence;

(4) Upon receipt from the voter of a written request to cancel the voter=s registration, upon confirmation by the voter of a change of address to an address outside the county, upon notice from a voter registrar of another jurisdiction outside the county or state of the receipt of an application for voter registration in that jurisdiction, or upon notice from the Secretary of State that a voter registration application was accepted in another county of the state subsequent to the last registration date in the first county, as determined from a comparison of voter records; or

(5) Upon failure to respond and produce evidence of continued eligibility to register following the challenge of the voter=s registration pursuant to the provisions of section twenty-eight of this article.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to give additional duties for the Secretary of State relating to voter registration.

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