Senate Bill No. 462
(By Senators Oliverio, Kessler, Jenkins, Wells, Minard and White)
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[Introduced March 5,2009; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §3-2-6 and §3-2-16 of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended; and to amend and reenact §3-5-17
of said code, all relating to lengthening the period for voter
registration; lengthening the period during which voters may
register to the third day before an election; changing the
verification procedures to provide for the extended period of
registration; permitting registration during early elections
to occur only at locations designated by the county clerk;
permitting persons to register and vote on the same day during
the early voting period; prohibiting persons from changing
party affiliation during the early voting period preceding a
primary election; and changing the canvassing start day in
primary elections to Monday so clerks can comply with ten-day
postcard verification requirement.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §3-2-6 and §3-2-16 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be amended and reenacted; and that §3-5-17 of said code be
amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. REGISTRATION OF VOTERS.
§3-2-6. Time of registration application before an election.
(a)
(1) Voter registration before an election shall close on
the twenty-first day before the election, or on the first day
thereafter which is not a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday.
(2) (A) Beginning January 1, 2012, and for each election held
thereafter, voter registration before an election shall close at
the end of business hours on the third day before the election.
For any election held on a Tuesday, voter registration pursuant to
this subdivision must be available from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on
the two Saturdays prior to the election.
(B) Voter registration conducted during the period beginning
on the twentieth day before an election and continuing through the
third day before an election shall occur only at a location
designated by the clerk of the county commission.
(C) During the period of voter registration beginning on the
twentieth day before an election and continuing through the third
day before an election, a person who is already registered to vote
in the county may update the information in the registration record
in accordance with section twenty-two, article two of this chapter,
and may also update an address if he or she has moved from one county to a new county within the state.
(D) A person who registers to vote pursuant to the provisions
of this subdivision and who is eligible to vote, may only vote at
an early-voting site during the early-voting period as provided in
section three, article three of this chapter.
(E) During the period of voter registration beginning on the
twentieth day before an election and continuing through the third
day before the first or second partisan primary, a person who is
already registered to vote, may not change his or her party
affiliation.
(b) An application for voter registration, transfer of
registration, change of name or change of political party
affiliation submitted by an eligible voter by the close of voter
registration shall be effective for any subsequent primary, general
or special election if the following conditions are met:
(1) The application contains the information required by
subsection (c), section five of this article:
Provided, That
incomplete applications for registration containing information
which are submitted within the required time may be corrected
within four business days after the close of registration if the
applicant provides the required information; and
(2) The application is received by the appropriate clerk of
the county commission no later than the hour of the close of
registration or is otherwise submitted by the following deadlines:
(A) If mailed, the application shall be addressed to the
appropriate clerk of the county commission and is postmarked by the
postal service no later than the date of the close of registration:
Provided, That if the postmark is missing or illegible, the
application shall be presumed to have been mailed no later than the
close of registration if it is received by the appropriate clerk of
the county commission no later than the third day following the
close of registration;
(B) If accepted by a designated agency or motor vehicle
licensing office, the application is received by that agency or
office no later than the close of registration;
(C) If accepted through a registration outreach program, the
application is received by the clerk, deputy clerk or registrar no
later than the close of registration; and
(3) The verification notice by the provisions of section
sixteen of this article mailed to the voter at the residence
indicated on the application is not returned as undeliverable.
§3-2-16. Procedures upon receipt of application for registration
by the clerk of the county commission; verification
procedure and notice of disposition of application for
registration.
(a) Upon receipt of an application for voter registration, the
clerk of the county commission shall determine whether the
application is complete, whether the applicant appears to be eligible to register to vote within the county and whether the
applicant is currently registered within the county. If the
application is incomplete or the applicant appears not to be
eligible, the clerk shall take the appropriate action as prescribed
in section seventeen of this article.
(b) If the application received is complete and appears to be
from an eligible person who has not previously been registered
within the county, or has not been included within the active voter
registration files as defined in section eighteen of this article
within the preceding calendar year and does not present a driver's
license containing the residence address pursuant to the provisions
of subdivision (2), subsection (d), section seven of this article,
the clerk of the county commission shall conduct the following
verification procedure:
(1) The clerk shall issue or mail, by first-class
nonforwardable return requested, a verification notice addressed to
the applicant at the residence and mailing address given on the
application, except that the mailing address shall not be included
on the notice if it appears to identify a distinctly different
location from the residence address, such as a business address,
another residence or a different city or town, unless the voter has
registered as a uniformed services, overseas or homeless voter and
provided a local residence address pursuant to the provisions of
subdivision (4), subsection (c), section five of this article.
(2) The verification notice shall state the purpose of the
procedure, the fact that no further action is required of the
applicant, and the fact that a notice of the disposition of the
registration application will be mailed after the ten day return
period has expired.
(3) If the verification notice is not returned as
undeliverable within ten days
or by the start of canvas, whichever
occurs first, the application for registration shall be accepted
and entered into the active voter registration files and a
registration receipt mailed designating the voter's assigned
precinct.
(4) If the verification notice is returned undeliverable
within ten days, the clerk shall compare the address given on the
voter registration application with the address used on the
envelope and, if there is any discrepancy, shall send a second
verification notice to the correct address. If there is no
discrepancy, the application for registration shall be denied and
the notice of denial prescribed in section seventeen of this
article shall be mailed.
(5) If the verification notice is returned undeliverable after
the registration has been accepted, the clerk shall initiate the
confirmation procedure prescribed in section twenty-six of this
article.
(c) If the application received is complete and appears to be from an eligible person who is currently registered within the
county, or has been included within the active voter registration
files as defined in section eighteen of this article within the
preceding calendar year, the clerk of the county commission shall
send, by first-class nonforwardable return requested mail, a
registration receipt or other notice of the disposition of the
application; and
(1) If the application is for a change of name, change of
address, change of political party affiliation, reinstatement or
other correction of the previous voter registration, the clerk
shall include a new voter registration receipt;
(2) If the application does not make any change in the
previous voter registration, the clerk shall notify the registrant
that the voter is not required to reregister or update the
registration as long as he or she lives at the same address and has
the same legal name; or
(3) If the notice of disposition is returned undeliverable
after the registration has been accepted, the clerk shall initiate
the confirmation procedure prescribed in section twenty-six of this
article.
(d) If the application contains information indicating the
address at which the applicant was previously registered to vote in
another county or state, the clerk of the county commission shall
give notice to the clerk or registrar of that jurisdiction for the purpose of canceling the previous registration.
ARTICLE 5. PRIMARY ELECTIONS AND NOMINATING PROCEDURES.
§3-5-17. Canvassing and certifying returns; recount procedures.
The county court, sitting as a board of canvassers, shall meet
at the courthouse of the county on the
Friday Monday next
succeeding any primary election and shall proceed to canvass the
returns of such election. The procedures prescribed in section
nine of article six of this chapter, relating to canvass of general
election returns, shall, where adaptable, be applied in the canvass
of the primary election returns. The board shall proceed to
ascertain the result of such election in the county and district,
and election precincts thereof, and cause to be prepared and
recorded in the primary election precinct record book, a table or
tables which shall show, as to each candidate of each political
party for each office, the number of votes cast for him
or her at
each precinct, and the total number thereof cast in the entire
county. The board shall then make up and enter in said record book
a certificate for each political party, showing, as to each
candidate for each political party for each office, the total
number of votes (in words and also in figures) cast for him
or her
in the entire county and the number of votes received by all the
candidates of such party in such district, which shall be in the
following form:
The board of canvassers of the county of .........., State of West Virginia, having carefully and impartially examined the
returns of the primary election held in said county on the ... day
of ...,
19 20..., do hereby certify that in said county or
district, at said election, on the official ballot of the
.......... party for the office of .........., A. B. received ...
(...) votes; C. D. received ... (...) votes.
And so on for each office for each political party according
to the truth. When the certificates are all entered, the report
shall be signed by the members of the board or a majority thereof.
Such members shall also sign separate certificates of the result of
said election, within the county, for each of the offices to be
filled by each political party, as provided by the following
section.
The provisions of article six of this chapter, relating to the
recount of votes in general elections, shall, to the extent
applicable, be operative in primary and other elections conducted
under provisions of this article.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to lengthen the period for
voter registration and lengthens the period during which voters may
register to the third day before an election. The bill permits
registration during early elections to occur only at locations
designated by the county clerk and permits persons to register and
vote on the same day during the early-voting period. The bill also
prohibits persons from changing party affiliation during the
early-voting period preceding a primary election. Additionally,
the bill changes the canvassing start day in primary elections to
Monday so clerks can comply with ten day post card verification
requirement.
The bill was reported from the Joint Committee on the
Judiciary without recommendation.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.