COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR

H. B. 2536

(By Delegates Smirl, Johnson, Underwood)


(Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary)


[April 1, 1997]
A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty-one, article one, chapter three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; to further amend said article by adding thereto a new section, designated section forty-one-a; to amend and reenact section one, article three of said chapter; and to further amend said article by adding thereto a new section, designated section one-a, all relating to the packaging and delivery of ballots to poll workers assigned out of their district on election day; allowing poll workers who work outside of their voting district to vote a challenged ballot; providing that a replacement poll worker assigned outside of their district may vote by emergency absentee ballot in certain instances; and permitting a poll worker assigned outside their voting district to vote by absentee ballot prior to an election.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-one, article one, chapter three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted; that said article be further amended said article by adding thereto a new section, designated section forty-one-a; and tothat section amend and reenact section one, article three of said chapter be amended and reneneaacted; and to further amendhat said article be y further amended by aadding thereto a new section, designated section one-a, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS.
§3-1-21. Printing of official and sample ballots; number; packaging and delivery, correction of ballots.

(a) The board of ballot commissioners for each county shall provide the ballots and sample ballots necessary for the conduct of every election for public officers in which the voters of the county participate.
(b) The persons who shall provide the ballots necessary for the conduct of all other elections shall be:
(1) The secretary of state, for any statewide special election ordered by the Legislature;
(2) The board of ballot commissioners, for any county-wide special election ordered by the county commission; or
(3) The board of education, for any special levy or bond election ordered by the board of education; or
(4) The municipal board of ballot commissioners, for any election conducted for or within a municipality, except an election in which the matter affecting the municipality is placed on the county ballot at a county election. Ballots other than those caused to be printed by the proper authorities as specified in this section shall not be cast, received, or counted in any election.
(c) When paper ballots are used, the total number of regular official ballots printed shall equal one and one-twentieth times the number of registered voters eligible to vote that ballot. The circuit clerk shall determine the number of absentee official ballots, which number shall be not more than one tenth of the number of registered voters eligible to vote the ballot.
(d) The number of regular official ballots packaged for each precinct shall equal the number of registered voters of the precinct. The remaining regular official ballots shall be packaged and delivered to the circuit clerk, who shall retain them unopened until they are required for an emergency. Each package of ballots shall be wrapped and sealed in a manner which will immediately make apparent any attempt to open, alter or tamper with the ballots contained therein. Each package of ballots for a precinct shall be clearly labeled, in a manner which cannot be altered, with the county name, the precinct number, and the number of ballots contained therein. If the packaging material conceals the face of the ballot, a sample ballot identical to the official ballots contained therein shall be securely attached to the outside of the package, or, in the case of ballot cards, the type of ballot shall be included in the label.
(e) The circuit clerk shall package three ballots of each ballot type containing the various combination of districts in a separate package for each precinct for use only by election officials voting out of district. It shall be packaged and labeled as provided in subsection (d). This ballot package shall be provided only if the circuit clerk does not provide emergency absentee voting to poll workers who are assingedassigned on elctionelection day to precincts out of their district.
(e) (f) All absentee ballots necessary for the conduct of absentee voting in all voting systems shall be delivered to the circuit clerk of the appropriate county not later than the forty- second day before the election. All official ballots in paper ballot systems shall be delivered to the circuit clerk of the appropriate county not later than twenty-eight days before the election.
(f) (g) Upon a finding of the board of ballot commissioners that an official ballot contains an error which in the opinion of the board is of sufficient magnitude as to confuse or mislead the voters, the board shall cause the error to be corrected, either by the reprinting of the ballots or by the use of stickers printed with the correction and of suitable size to be placed over the error without covering any other portion of the ballot.
 §3-1-41a. Poll workers who work at polls outside their voting district allowed to vote challenged ballots from their home district.
(a) An otherwise duly registered and qualified voter of a county who, during an election, acstscastsacts as a poll worker outside his or her voting district may vote a challenged ballot from his or her home district.
ARTICLE 3. VOTING BY ABSENTEES.
§3-3-1. Persons eligible to vote absentee ballots.

(a) Duly registered and otherwise qualified voters of the county who for authorized reasons as provided in this article are unable to vote in person at the polling place on the day of a primary, general or special election may vote an absentee ballot according to the provisions of this article.
(b) Voters in the following circumstances shall be authorized to vote an absentee ballot and shall be required to vote that absentee ballot in person in the office of the clerk of the circuit court during the period of regular absentee voting in person:
(1) Any voter who is within the county and physically able to vote in person during regular business hours of the clerk's office during the prescribed period for absentee voting but is unable to vote in person on election day because of: (A) Anticipated or scheduled commitment to a hospital, institution or other confinement for medical reasons; (B) absence from the county during the entire time the polls are open; (C) appointment as an election official in a precinct other than the one in which the voter is registered; or (D) the inaccessibility of the polling place to the voter because of his or her physical disability; and
(2) Any voter who is a member of a religious denomination with an established history of observing Saturday as the Sabbath, when the election is scheduled to be held on Saturday.
(c) Voters in the following circumstances shall be authorized to vote an absentee ballot under special affidavit and shall be required to vote that absentee ballot in person in the office of the clerk of the circuit court during the period of special absentee voting in person:
(1) Any voter who will be absent from the county throughout the regular period and available hours for voting in person at the polls or at the clerk's office because of personal or business travel or employment, who will be unable to receive an absentee ballot by mail at an address outside the county during that absence, and who will be present within the county between the forty-second day before the election and the fifteenth day before the election.
(d) Voters in the following circumstances shall be authorized to vote an absentee ballot by mail:
(1) Any voter who is confined to a specific location and prevented from voting in person throughout the period of voting in person because of: (A) Illness, injury or other medical reason; (B) physical disability or immobility due to extreme advanced age; or (C) incarceration or home detention when not under conviction of a felony, treason or bribery in an election; and
(2) Any voter who is absent from the county throughout the period and available hours for voting in person because of: (A) Personal or business travel; (B) attendance at a college, university or other place of education or training; or (C) employment which because of hours worked and distance from the county seat make voting in person impossible; and
(3) Any voter absent from the county throughout the period and available hours for voting in person and who is an absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter, as defined by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986 (Public Law 99-410, 42 U.S.C. 1973, et seq.). Members of the uniformed services on active duty, members of the merchant marine, spouses and dependents of those members on active duty, and persons who reside outside the United States and are qualified to vote in the last place in which the person was domiciled before leaving the United States are included in the above definition; and
(4) Any voter who is required to dwell temporarily outside the county and is absent from the county throughout the time for voting in person because of: (A) Serving as an elected or appointed federal or state officer; or (B) serving in any other documented employment assignment of specific duration of four years or less; and
(5) Any voter for whom both the office of the circuit clerk and the polling place are inaccessible to the voter because of his or her physical disability.
(e) Voters in the following circumstances shall be authorized to vote an emergency absentee ballot, subject to the availability of the services as provided in this article:
(1) Any voter who is admitted for emergency medical treatment on or after the seventh day next preceding the election and who anticipates continued confinement in a hospital or other duly licensed health care within the county of residence or other authorized area, as provided in this article; and
(2) Any voter who resides in a nursing home within the county of residence and would be otherwise unable to vote in person, providing the county commission has authorized such services.
(3) Any vvoter who is working as a relplacement poll owworker and is assinggned a precicntprecinct out of his or her district if the aassignment was made after in-person absentee voting in the circuit clerk's office is closed and if the circuit clerk does not provide district ballots in each precicntprecinct as described in West Vriirginia Code §3-1-21(e).krk
§3-3-1a. Poll workers who work at polls outside their voting district required allowed to vote absentee ballots.

(a) An otherwise duly registered and qualified voter of a county who, during an election, acts as a poll worker outside his or her precinct shall maymay vote by absentee ballot prior to the election.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide alternative for requireallow alternative voting methods for poll workers who work outside their voting assingegned to a precinct outside of their distrifdtct to vote by absentee ballot, .
 on is to provide allow poll workers who work p are assigned to precincts outsid e of their district to vote by either challenged or absneenteee ballots. Alternativesn lalternative areis set forth fort those emergendycy situations where in which the poll workers wasis not able to vote by challenged ballot or absentteee mteethods.assinged elo by absentee prior to the election.