H. B. 211
(By Mr. Speaker, (Mr. Thompson) and Delegate Armstead)
[By Request of the Executive]
[Introduced July 17, 2010; referred to the
Committee on Judiciary then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §3-3B-3 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to the pilot program for military
and overseas voters for the primary and general elections to
be held during the year 2010; and extending the application
period for counties to apply with the Secretary of State's
O
ffice to participate in the pilot program for the general
election.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §3-3B-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3B. UNIFORMED SERVICES AND OVERSEAS VOTER PILOT PROGRAM.
§3-3B-3. Process for selection by Secretary of State.
(a) On or before the close of business on January 8, 2010,
for
the 2010 primary and general election, and on or before the close
of business on July 30, 2010, for the 2010 general election only, any county interested in participating in the pilot program must
submit a proposal to the Secretary of State. The proposal shall
include:
(1) The name of the vendor or vendors, if any, whose voting
system will be implemented for voting by uniformed military and
overseas citizen voters;
(2) The anticipated cost to the county of implementing the
proposal;
(3) The manner in which the voting system complies with the
provisions of section four of this article; and
(4) An option for the voter to choose not to vote using the
pilot voting system, but rather by mail, fax or e-mail at the
voter's discretion as provided
for in sections five and five-b,
article three, chapter three of this code.
(b) The Secretary of State shall evaluate each proposal and
shall approve those proposals which meet the criteria described in
section four of this article.
(c) On or before January 29, 2010,
for the 2010 primary and
general election, and on or before August 13, 2010, for the 2010
general election only, each county that has submitted a proposal
shall be notified by the Secretary of State that the application
has either been approved or denied.
(d) Any county that applied by January 8, 2010, and was
approved by the Secretary of State is considered approved for program participation in both the 2010 primary election and 2010
general election.
(d) (e) Following the primary election, the
s
ecretary shall
evaluate the functional effectiveness of pilot programs conducted
under this article and shall terminate any program that fails to
adequately and securely ensure that absent uniformed services
voters and overseas voters have their absentee ballots cast and
counted in the primary election.
(e) (f) Ninety days following the 2010 primary election and
ninety days following the 2010 general election, the
s
ecretary
shall submit to the Legislature reports on the progress and
outcomes of any pilot program conducted under this article,
together with recommendations:
(1) For the conduct of additional pilot programs; and
(2) For such other legislation as the
s
ecretary determines
appropriate.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow more counties to
apply to participate in the military and overseas voting pilot
program for the 2010 general election.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.