H. B. 4686


(By Delegate Paxton)
[Introduced March 2, 1994; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]




A BILL to amend and reenact section forty-one, article one, chapter three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to ballots of election officials generally; and ensuring that the votes of election officials are confidential.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That section forty-one, article one, chapter three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS.

§ 3 - 1 - 41. Challenged voter procedures; counting of challenged voters' ballots; ballots of election officials.

It shall be the duty of the members of the receiving board, jointly or severally, to challenge the right of any person requesting a ballot to vote in any election, if such person's registration record is not available at the time of the election, or if the signature written by the person in the poll book does not correspond with the signature purported to be his on the registration record, or if the registration record of such person indicates any other legal disqualification.

Any person so challenged shall nevertheless be permitted to vote in the election, but for that purpose he shall be furnished an official ballot not endorsed by the poll clerks. In lieu of such endorsements, the poll clerks shall fill and sign an appropriate form indicating the challenge and the reason thereof, and the name or names of the challengers. Such form shall be securely attached to the voter's ballot and deposited together with the ballot in a separate box or envelope marked "challenged ballots."
The ballot of any voter so challenged shall not be counted by the election officials. The county court commission shall, on its own motion, at the time of canvassing of the election returns, sit in session to determine the validity of such challenges. If the county court commission shall determine determines that the challenges are unfounded the ballot of each challenged voter, if otherwise valid, shall be counted and tallied together with the regular ballots cast in the election. In such determinations the county court commission shall disregard technical errors, omissions or oversights, if it can reasonably be ascertained that the challenged voter was entitled to vote.
Any person duly appointed as an election commissioner or clerk under the provisions of section twenty-eight of this article and who serves in such capacity in a precinct other than the precinct in which such person is legally entitled to vote, may cast a challenged ballot in the precinct in which such person is serving as a commissioner or clerk, and such ballot shall not be deemed invalid for the sole reason of having been cast in a precinct other than the precinct in which such person is legally entitled to vote, vote in the precinct in which the person is serving as a commissioner or clerk and the poll clerks shall fill out and sign an appropriate form indicating the name or names and signatures of the commissioners or clerks voting and securely deposit the form in a separate envelope marked "Poll Worker's Voting Record" and the county court commission shall record the challenged ballot vote on the voter's permanent registration record.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide for the confidential handling of the votes of poll officials and poll workers.

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