H. B. 3174
(By Delegate Staton)
[Introduced March 30, 2001; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact sections nineteen-a and twenty-one,
article four-a, chapter three of the code of West Virginia,
one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, all
relating to the mandatory requirement that ballots be signed
by two poll clerks.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections nineteen-a and twenty-one, article four-a,
chapter three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to
read as follows:
ARTICLE 4A. ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEMS.
§3-4A-19a. Form of ballots; requiring the signatures of poll
clerks; prohibiting the counting of votes cast on
ballots without two poll clerks signatures.
(a) Every ballot utilized during the course of any
electronic voting system election conducted under the provisions of this article shall provide must have two lines for the
signatures of the poll clerks. Both of the signature lines shall
are to be printed on a portion of the ballot where votes are not
recorded by perforation or marking, but which portion is an
actual part of the ballot deposited in the ballot box after the
voter has perforated or marked his or her ballot and after the
ballot stub has been removed.
(b) Each of the two poll clerks shall sign his or her name
on one of the designated lines provided on each ballot before any
ballot is distributed to a voter. After a voter has signed the
pollbook, as required in section nineteen of this article, the
two poll clerks shall deliver a ballot to the voter, which ballot
has been signed by each of the two poll clerks as provided herein
in this subsection. The requirement that two poll clerks sign a
ballot according to this subsection is a mandatory duty and is
not to be construed as merely directory.
(c) In the course of an election contest, if it is
established that a ballot does not contain the two signatures
required by this section, such the ballot shall be is null, void
and of no effect, and shall may not be counted. The requirement
that a ballot not be counted if it does not met the requirements
of this section is mandatory and not to be construed as merely
directory.
§3-4A-21. Absent voter ballots; issuance, processing and
tabulation.
Absentee voters shall cast their votes on absent voter
ballots. If absentee voters shall be are deemed eligible to vote
in person at the office of the clerk of the circuit court
official designated to supervise and conduct absentee voting, in
accordance with the provisions of article three of this chapter,
the clerk of the circuit court of
such the absentee voters. For all
absentee voters deemed eligible to vote an absent voter's ballot
by mail, in accordance with the provisions of article three of
this chapter, the clerk of the circuit court of official for each
county shall prepare and issue an absent voter ballot packet
consisting of the following:
(a) One official absent voter ballot;
(b) One punching tool for perforating or a device for
marking by electronically sensible pen or ink, as may be
appropriate;
(c) If a punching tool is to be utilized, one disposable
styrofoam block to be placed behind the ballot card for voting
purposes and to be discarded after use by the voter;
(d) One absent voter instruction ballot;
(e) One absent voter's ballot envelope No. 1, unsealed,
which shall may have no writing thereon on it and which shall is
to be identical to the secrecy envelope used for placement of ballots at the polls; and
(f) One absent voter's ballot envelope No. 2, which envelope
shall is to be marked with the proper precinct number and shall
must provide a place on its seal for the absent voter to affix
his or her signature. Such The envelope shall is also otherwise
to contain the forms and instructions as provided in section
five, article three of this chapter, relating to the absentee
voting of paper ballots.
(g) Upon receipt of an absent voter's ballot by mail, the
voter shall mark the ballot with the punch tool or marking
device, whichever is appropriate, and the voter may receive
assistance in voting his absent voter's ballot in accordance with
the provisions of section six, article three of this chapter.
(h) After the voter has voted his or her absent voter's
ballot, he or she shall (1) enclose the same ballot in absent
voter's ballot envelope No. 1, and seal that envelope, (2)
enclose sealed absent voter's ballot envelope No. 1 in absent
voter's ballot envelope No. 2, (3) complete and sign the forms,
if any, on absent voter's ballot envelope No. 2 according to the
instructions thereon on the envelope, and (4) mail, postage
prepaid, sealed absent voter's ballot envelope No. 2 to the clerk
of the circuit court of
clerk official.
(i) Upon receipt of such the sealed envelope, the circuit
clerk official designated to supervise and conduct absentee
voting shall (1) enter onto the envelope such any information as
may be required of him or her according to the instructions
thereon on the envelope; (2) enter his or her challenge, if any,
to the absent voter's ballot; (3) enter the required information
into a record of persons making application for and voting an
absent voter's ballot by personal appearance or by mail (the form
of which record and information to be entered therein shall in
the record is to be prescribed by the secretary of state); and
(4) place such the sealed envelope in a secure location in his or
her office, there to remain until delivered to the polling place
in accordance with the provisions of this article or, in case of
a challenged ballot, to the county commission sitting as a board
of canvassers.
(j) When absent voters' ballots have been delivered to the
election board of any precinct, the election commissioners shall,
at the close of the polls, proceed to determine the legality of
such the ballots as prescribed in article three of this chapter.
The commissioners shall then open all of the absent voter's
ballot envelopes No. 2 which contain ballots not challenged and
remove therefrom from the envelopes the absent voter's ballot
envelopes No. 1. These ballot envelopes No. 1 shall are then to
be shuffled and intermingled. The election commissioners and poll clerks, in the presence of each other, shall next open all
of the absent voter's ballot envelopes No. 1 and remove the
ballots therefrom from the envelopes. The poll clerks shall then
affix their signatures thereto to the ballots as provided in
section nineteen-a of this article. The commissioners shall then
insert each ballot into a secrecy envelope identical to the
secrecy envelopes used for the placement of ballots of voters who
are voting in person at the polls and shall deposit the ballot in
the ballot box. The requirement that two poll clerks sign a
ballot according to this subsection is a mandatory duty and is
not to be construed as merely directory.
(k) In the course of an election contest, if it is
established that a ballot does not contain the two signatures
required by this section, the ballot is null, void and of no
effect, and may not be counted. The requirement that a ballot
not be counted if it does not met the requirements of this
section is mandatory and not to be construed as merely directory.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require that absentee
ballots be signed by two poll clerks.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.