Senate Bill No. 556

(By Senator Rowe)

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[Introduced February 8, 2002; referred to the Committee

on the Judiciary.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact section eight, article nine, chapter three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the "Secret Ballot Protection Act of 2002"; and setting forth certain requirements to assure the integrity of the voting process.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section eight, article nine, 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 9. OFFENSES AND PENALTIES.
 §3-9-8. Distinguishing marks on ballots; conspiracies; penalties.
(a) This section shall be called the "Secret Ballot Protection Act of 2002."
(b) All ballots, whether paper, electronic or other medium, are to be produced, secured, handled, processed, delivered, voted, counted and destroyed, if discarded or erased, pursuant to established procedures in a regular verifiable manner to assure the integrity of the voting process in all elections so that each vote counted in any election is the free, true and confidential expression of choice of a voter qualified to cast that ballot in accordance with law and the spirit of liberty, democracy and equality which are the foundation principals of the American electoral process.
(a) (c) If any person shall induce or attempt to induce, any voter or other person to write, encode, paste or otherwise place on his or her ballot the name of any person, or any sign, signature or device of any kind, as a distinguishing name, mark, code or writing by which to indicate the identity of a voter to any other person how such voter voted, or shall enter into or attempt to form any agreement or conspiracy with any other person to induce or attempt to induce a voter or other person to so place a distinguishing name, or mark, on his code or writing on any ballot whether or not such act be committed or attempted to be committed. such
(d) A person so offending who violates the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, on upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars, or be imprisoned in the county or regional jail for not more than one year, or both fined and imprisoned, in the discretion of the court.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide for the "Secret Ballot Protection Act of 2002." The proposed legislation sets forth certain requirements to assure the integrity of the voting process.

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