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.