Senate Bill No. 43
(By Senators Rowe and Hunter)
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[Introduced January 8, 2003; 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 creating the "Secret
Ballot Protection Act of 2003"; setting forth certain
requirements to ensure the integrity of the voting process;
and misdemeanor criminal offenses and penalties.
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 2003."
(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.
(c) If any person shall induce or attempt induces or attempts
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 enters into
or attempt attempts 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 the act be is committed or
attempted to be committed. such
(d) A person so offending who violates the provisions of this
section shall be is 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 2003." 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.