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ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 391
(Senators Palumbo, Snyder, Foster, McCabe, Beach, Minard and Wells,
original sponsors)
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[Passed March 12, 2011; in effect from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact §3-3-2a of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to authorizing community voting
locations; removing the requirement that chairpersons of
executive committees approve community voting locations;
requiring community voting locations to be open a minimum of
five days; providing for locations on a rotating basis;
establishing criteria for community voting locations;
permitting chairpersons of executive committees to nominate
locations; requiring publication of notices prior to the
designation of locations; requiring publication of notices of
the dates, times and places of community voting locations; and
requiring community voting locations to be utilized an equal
number of days and for the same number of hours.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §3-3-2a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. VOTING BY ABSENTEES.
§3-3-2a. Early voting areas; prohibition against display of
campaign material.
(a) The county commission shall designate the courthouse or
annex to the courthouse as the primary location for early voting
and in addition, the commission may designate other locations as
provided in subsection (b).
(b) The county commission may, with the approval of the county
clerk or other official charged with the administration of
elections, designate community voting locations for early voting,
other than the county courthouse or courthouse annex by a majority
of the members of the county commission voting to adopt the same at
a public meeting called for that purpose.
(1)
The county commission shall publish a notice of its intent
to designate community voting location at least thirty days prior
to the designation. Notice shall be by publication as a Class II-0
legal advertisement in compliance with provisions of article three,
chapte
r fifty-nine of this code. The publication area is the
county in which the community voting locations are designated;
(2) Community voting locations shall comply with requirements
of this article for early in-person voting, criteria prescribed by
the Secretary of State
and the following criteria:
(A) can be scheduled for use during the early voting period;
(B) has the physical facilities necessary to accommodate early
voting requirements;
(C) has adequate space for voting equipment, poll workers, and
voters; and
(D) has adequate security, public accessibility, and parking.
(3) The county executive committees of the two major political
parties may nominate sites to be used as community voting locations
during the early voting period;
(4) Upon the designation of a community voting location, the
county clerk shall, not less than thirty days prior to an election,
give notice of the dates, times, and place of community voting
locations by publication as a Class II-0 legal advertisement in
compliance with provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of
this code;
(5) Voting shall be conducted at each designated community
voting site for a period of not less than five consecutive days
during early in-person voting authorized by section three of this
article, but need not be conducted at each location for the entire
period of early in-person voting;
(6) The county commission, with the approval of the county
clerk, may authorize community voting locations on a rotating
basis, wherein a community voting location may be utilized for less
than the full period of early in-person voting; and
(7) If more than one community voting location is designated,
each location shall be utilized for an equal number of voting days
and permit voting for the
same number of hours per day.
(c)
The Secretary of State shall propose legislative
and
emergency rules in accordance with the provisions of article three,
chapter twenty-nine-a of this code as may be necessary to implement
the provisions of this section. The rules shall include
establishment of criteria to assure neutrality and security in the
selection of community voting locations.
(d) Throughout the period of early in-person voting, the
official designated to supervise and conduct absentee voting shall
make the following provisions for voting:
(1) The official shall provide a sufficient number of voting
booths or devices appropriate to the voting system at which voters
may prepare their ballots. The booths or devices are to be in an
area separate from but within clear view of the public entrance
area of the official's office or other area designated by the
county commission for absentee voting and are to be arranged to
ensure the voter complete privacy in casting the ballot.
(2) The official shall make the voting area secure from
interference with the voter and shall ensure that voted and unvoted
ballots are at all times secure from tampering. No person, other
than a person lawfully assisting the voter according to the
provisions of this chapter, may be permitted to come within five
feet of the voting booth while the voter is voting. No person,
other than the officials or employees of the official designated to
supervise and conduct absentee voting or members of the board of
ballot commissioners assigned to conduct absentee voting, may enter
the area or room set aside for voting.
(3) The official designated to supervise and conduct absentee
voting shall request the county commission designate another area
within the county courthouse, any annex of the courthouse or any
other designated as early in-person voting locations within the
county, as a portion of the official's office, for the purpose of
absentee in-person voting in the following circumstances:
(A) If the voting area is not accessible to voters with
physical disabilities;
(B) If the voting area is not within clear view of the public
entrance of the office of the official designated to supervise and
conduct absentee voting; or
(C) If there is no suitable area for absentee in-person voting
within the office.
Any designated area is subject to the same requirements as
the regular absentee voting area.
(4) The official designated to supervise and conduct absentee
voting shall have at least two representatives to assist with
absentee voting: Provided, That the two representatives may not be
registered with the same political party affiliation or two persons
registered with no political party affiliation. The
representatives may be full-time employees, temporary employees
hired for the period of absentee voting in person or volunteers.
(5) No person may do any electioneering nor may any person
display or distribute in any manner, or authorize the display or
distribution of, any literature, posters or material of any kind
which tends to influence the voting for or against any candidate or any public question on the property of the county courthouse, any
annex facilities, or any other designated early voting locations
within the county, during the entire period of regular in-person
absentee voting. The official designated to supervise and conduct
absentee voting is authorized to remove the material and to direct
the sheriff of the county to enforce the prohibition.