Senate Bill No. 347
(By Senators Snyder, Caldwell, Fanning,
Hunter, Minard, Rowe, McKenzie and White)
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[Introduced January 24, 2003;
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
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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 changing
ballot publishing dates before primary and general elections.
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:
§3-5-10. Publication of sample ballots and lists of candidates.
(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 twenty-six nor
less than eight twenty 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 twenty-six nor less than eight twenty 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; and
(3) 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.
(e) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (c) and (d)
of this section, beginning with the primary election to be held in
the year two thousand, the ballot commissioners of any county may
choose to publish a facsimile sample ballot for each political
party and for nonpartisan candidates or ballot issues instead of
the official list of offices and candidates for each office for
purposes of the last publication required before any primary
election.
§3-6-3. Publication of sample ballots and lists of candidates.
(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 twenty-six nor
less than eight twenty 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) For counties having no more than one daily newspaper, or
having only one or more qualified newspapers which publish weekly,
not more than fourteen twenty-six nor less than eight twenty 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; and
(3) 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.
(e) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (c) and (d)
of this section, beginning with the general election to be held in
the year two thousand, the ballot commissioners of any county may
choose to publish a facsimile sample general election ballot,
instead of the official list of candidates and issues, for purposes
of the last publication required before any general election.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require publishing of
sample ballots in local newspapers prior to the beginning of in
person absentee voting.
This bill was recommended for introduction and passage by the
Joint Standing Committee on the Judiciary.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.