SB 391 Text

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SB391 SUB1 ENR 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.