ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 201
By Mr. Speaker, (Mr. Thompson) and Delegate Armstead)
(By Request of the Executive)
[Passed July 19, 2010; in effect from passage.]
AN ACT
to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section designated §3-10-4a, relating to
filling a vacancy in the office of United States Senator;
providing for an election to fill the unexpired term;
requiring the election to occur in conjunction with the 2010
general election; providing for a special primary election to
nominate party candidates for the 2010 general election;
authorizing the Governor to appoint a person to serve as
United States Senator until a successor is elected and
qualified; providing that the provisions of the law relating
to elections shall apply to the special primary election
unless inconsistent with section; modifying certain statutory
time periods; directing special primary election to be held on
August 28, 2010; modifying certain statutory time lines
relating to declaration of candidacy and early voting for special elections; modifying procedures relating to payment of
filing fees, drawing of ballot positions, selecting and
training individuals working as election official; clarifying
the eligibility of certain minors to vote in special primary
election; modifying statutory provisions relating to minimum
number of ballots to be printed; modifying publications
requirements of sample ballots, lists of candidates, and
public testing of voting machines; providing applications
deadlines for absentee ballots and procedures for changing
polling places; modifying procedures for persons without party
affiliations to nominate candidates for the special general
election; authorizing the Secretary of State to issue
administrative orders and to establish procedures and
deadlines necessary to preserve voting rights, avoid
fraudulent voting and other election irregularities and assure
orderly and efficient administration of the special primary
election; requiring the state to pay costs incurred in
connection with a special election to fill a vacancy in the
office of United States Senator;
requiring Secretary of State
to report to joint committee on government and finance and
establishing guidelines for the report; providing for the
expiratio
n of the section; and clarifying that the special
general election held on November 2, 2010, for the United
States Senate vacancy is a separate election from the general election held on the same date.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section designated as §3-10-4a, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 10. FILLING VACANCIES.
§3-10-4a. Special Senate vacancy election.
(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of section three of this
article establishing processes for the appointment and election to
fill a vacancy in the office of United States Senator, for purposes
of filling the vacant seat in the office of United States Senator
existing on July 1, 2010, a special election shall be held to fill
the unexpired term concurrent with the general election of November
2, 2010. A special primary election shall be held to nominate
party candidates for the November election.
(b) For the special primary election required to be held prior
to the November 2, 2010 election by operation of this section upon
its enactment during the second extraordinary session of the
Legislature, 2010, the Governor shall immediately issue a
proclamation calling for a special primary election and general
election. The special general election shall be held on November
2, 2010. The following provisions apply to these special
elections:
(1) The proclamation for the special election shall be published prior to the special election as a Class II-0 legal
advertisement in accordance with article three, chapter fifty-nine
of this code and the publication area for the publication is each
county of the state. The notice shall be filed with the Secretary
of State who shall immediately transmit the document to the clerk
of the county commission of each county. The clerk of the county
commission of each county shall cause the document to be published
within the county in accordance with this section.
(2) The provisions of this chapter shall apply to this special
primary election to the extent that those provisions are consistent
with the provisions of this section. Statutory time deadlines
relating to availability of absentee ballots, certification,
canvassing and related election procedures that cannot be met in a
timely fashion, for the purpose of this special election, are
modified as follows:
(A) The special primary election is to be held August 28,
2010;
(B) A notarized declaration of candidacy and filing fee shall
be filed and received in hand by the Secretary of State by 5:00
p.m. on the fourth calendar day following the proclamation of the
special primary election. The declaration of candidacy may be
filed in person, by United States mail, electronic means or any
other means authorized by the Secretary of State;
(C) Early-in-person voting shall be conducted during regular business hours beginning on Friday, August 20, 2010 and continuing
through close of business Wednesday, August 25, 2010. In addition,
early-in-person voting shall be conducted from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00
p.m. on Saturday, August 21, 2010. No satellite polling locations
will be utilized for the August 28, 2010 special primary election;
(D) The Secretary of State may issue emergency administrative
orders to undertake other ministerial actions that are otherwise
authorized pursuant to this code when necessary to assure the
preservation of the voting rights of the citizens of this state and
avoid fraudulent voting and election activities and otherwise
assure the orderly and efficient conduct of the election: Provided,
that such emergency administrative orders may not contravene the
provisions of this section;
(E) The compensation of election officers, cost of printing
ballots and all other reasonable and necessary expenses in holding
and making the return of the special election to fill a vacancy in
the office of United States Senator are obligations of the state
incurred by the ballot commissioners, clerks of the circuit courts,
clerks of the county commissions and county commissions of the
various counties as agents of the state. All expenses of the
special election are to be audited by the Secretary of State. The
Secretary of State shall prepare and transmit to the county
commissions forms on which the county commissions shall certify all
expenses of these special elections to the Secretary of State. If satisfied that the expenses as certified by the county commissions
are reasonable and were necessarily incurred, the Secretary of
State shall requisition the necessary warrants from the Auditor of
the state to be drawn on the State Treasurer and shall mail the
warrants directly to the vendors of the special election services,
supplies and facilities;
(F) For petition in lieu of payment of filing fees, a
candidate seeking nomination for the vacant seat in the U.S. Senate
may utilize the process set forth in section eight-a, article five
of this chapter: Provided, That the minimum number of signatures
required is one thousand seven hundred and forty;
(G) Drawing for ballot position will take place at the
Secretary of State's office 24 hours after the end of the filing
period. For each major political party on the ballot, a single
drawing by lot shall determine the candidate ballot position for
ballots statewide. This drawing shall be witnessed by four clerks
of the county commission chosen by the West Virginia Association of
County Clerks, with no more than two clerks representing a single
political party;
(H) The clerks of the county commission shall submit the list
of persons who worked in the May 11, 2010 primary election to the
county commission for appointment as election officials;
(I) Election officials shall be appointed by Tuesday, August
3, 2010;
(J) The clerks of the county commission shall provide notice
to all election officials of the fact of their appointment by
Wednesday, August 4, 2010. Included with the notice shall be a
response notice form for the appointed person to return indicating
if he or she agrees to serve in the specified capacity in the
August 28, 2010 special primary election;
(K) The position of any election official notified of
appointment who fails to return the response notice or otherwise
confirm to the clerk of the county commission his or her agreement
to serve by Tuesday, August 10, 2010 is considered vacant and the
clerk of the county commission shall proceed to fill the vacancies;
(L) Election officials shall be trained by Thursday, August
19, 2010: Provided, That election officials who attended training
for the May 11, 2010 primary election are exempt from additional
training for the August 28, 2010 special primary election;
(M) A registered voter who has not reached eighteen years of
age may vote in the August 28, 2010 special primary election:
Provided, That the voter will attain eighteen years of age at the
time of the special general election;
(N) When paper or optical scan ballots are the primary voting
method used at any county, the total number of regular official
ballots printed shall equal at a minimum fifty percent of the
number of registered voters eligible to vote that ballot;
(O) When paper ballots are used in conjunction with a direct recording electronic voting system, the total number of regular
official ballots printed shall equal at a minimum thirty percent of
the registered voters eligible to vote that ballot;
(P) For counties in which two or more qualified newspapers
publish a daily newspaper, the clerk of the county commission shall
publish at least once each sample official August 28, 2010 primary
ballot, on the last day on which a newspaper is published
immediately preceding the August 28, 2010 special primary election,
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 West Virginia Code;
(Q) For counties having no more than one daily newspaper or
having one or more qualified newspapers which publish weekly, the
clerk of the county commission shall publish each sample official
August 28, 2010 primary ballot, on the last day in which a
newspaper is published immediately preceding the August 28, 2010
special primary election, as a Class I-0 legal advertisement in the
qualified daily newspaper within the county having the largest
circulation in compliance with the provisions of article three,
chapter fifty-nine of West Virginia Code;
(R) Counties shall not be required to separately publish a
certified list of candidates;
(S) If only one notice of a sample ballot is published, it shall include a statement notifying voters that this is the sole
publication of the sample ballot;
(T) Before voting machines are used, the clerks of the county
commission shall have the ballots, vote recording devices, and
electronic poll books inspected, and automatic tabulating equipment
tested to ascertain that it will accurately count the votes cast.
A single notice of the place and time of the inspection and testing
shall be published, no less than three days in advance, as a class
I-0 legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of
article three, chapter fifty-nine of West Virginia Code. The
publication area is the county involved;
(U) Applications for absentee ballots shall be accepted from
the date of proclamation, other than from voters eligible to vote
under the provisions of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens
Absentee Voting Act who may apply for an absentee ballot for all
elections within a calendar year as early as the first day of
January of an election year;
(V) Regularly scheduled locations of polling places shall not
be changed, except for emergency situations as provided for in
§3-1-7(e) and (f): Provided, That if multiple precincts voted in
one polling location for the May 11, 2010 regularly scheduled
primary election, such precincts may be consolidated into a single
precinct. Locations for consolidated precincts shall provide
internet access, insofar as possible, for the sole purpose of utilizing the Statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS) as an
electronic poll book; and
(W) Persons having no party affiliation may nominate
candidates for the U.S. Senate vacancy under the procedures set
forth in sections twenty-three and twenty-four, article five of
this chapter: Provided, That the number of signatures required to
be submitted shall be equal to not less than one-quarter of one
percent of the entire vote cast at the last preceding general
election for any statewide congressional or presidential candidate.
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections twenty-three and twenty-
four of article three of this section, the signatures, notarized
declaration of candidacy, and filing fee must be submitted no later
than August 23, 2010.
(c) The Secretary of State, shall by January 10, 2011, report
to the Joint Committee of Government and Finance findings regarding
of the operation of the special elections undertaken pursuant to
subsection (b) of this section. This report shall provide analysis
of: direct and indirect costs to the state associated with the
conduct of the election; benefits and disadvantages of conducting
an election on a Saturday; the impact of compressed time periods on
efficient election administration; and whether this election
process impacted early voting and participation by military and
overseas voters.
(d) Any special election, which is held under the provisions of this section and occurs concurrently with a general election,
shall be a separate election from the general election.
(e) Upon the election and qualification of a United States
Senator by the United States Senate following the November 2, 2010
election, the provisions of this section will expire.