Senate Bill No. 5
(By Senator Craigo, Ross and Kessler)
____________
[Introduced January 12, 2000; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
____________
A BILL to amend and reenact section thirty-one, article one,
chapter three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and
reenact section two, article eleven of said chapter, all
relating to elections; and providing that special elections
be held during primary or general elections, except for
special school levy elections.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section thirty-one, article one, chapter three of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted; and that section two, article
eleven of said chapter be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS.
§3-1-31. Days and hours of elections.
General elections shall be held in the several election
precincts of the state on the Tuesday next after the first Monday
in November of each even year. Primary and special elections
shall be held on the days provided by law therefor for those
elections. Special elections, except those special elections
that relate to school levies, shall be held during general or
primary elections.
At every primary, general or special election the polls
shall be opened in each precinct on the day of such the election
at six-thirty o'clock in the forenoon and be closed at
seven-thirty o'clock in the evening.
ARTICLE 11. AMENDMENTS TO THE STATE CONSTITUTION.
§3-11-2. Title and summary of amendment; position on ballot;
designation of election for submission of amendment.
In any joint resolution proposing an amendment to the West
Virginia constitution, for ratification or rejection by the
voters, the Legislature shall for convenience of reference
thereto, assign a title to such the proposed amendment and shall set forth a summary of the purpose of such the proposed
amendment. If the Legislature shall fail fails in any such the
resolution to include a title and summary, or either, the
secretary of state shall supply such the omission or omissions,
and certify the same omission or omissions to the ballot
commissioners of each county. Whether set forth in such the
resolution or certified by the secretary of state, it shall be is
the duty of the ballot commissioners in each county to place upon
the official ballot at the election at which such the proposed
amendment is to be voted upon, or upon the ballot label in
counties where voting machines are used, the title and summary of
such the proposed constitutional amendment.
The Legislature may, in the joint resolution, give a
proposed amendment a number. If this is done, and if there is
more than one amendment submitted at the same election, the
position of such the amendment on the ballot shall be in
accordance with the number so designated. When numbers are not
so designated by the Legislature, the secretary of state, in
certifying the election ballot, shall number the amendments
consecutively in accordance with the dates of their final submission by the Legislature.
The Legislature shall, in the joint resolution, designate
the general or primary election at which the proposed
constitutional amendment shall be submitted to the voters.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to hold all special
elections at the time of primary or general elections, except for
special school levy elections.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.