Source: http://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb4408%20intr.htm&yr=2012&sesstype=RS&i=4408
Timestamp: 2018-01-23 00:53:22
Document Index: 225205459

Matched Legal Cases: ['§3', '§3', '§3', '§3', '§3', '§3', '§3', '§3', '§3', '§3', '§3', '§3', '§3', '§3', '§1973']

HB 4408 Text
Introduced Version House Bill 4408 History
H. B. 4408
(By Delegates Lawrence, Manchin and Miley)
Committee on the Judciary then Finance.]
A BILL to repeal §3-2-24 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; and to amend and reenact §3-2-5, §3-2-6, §3-2-7, §3-2-10, §3-2-11 and §3-2-18 of said code, all relating to online registration of voters.
That §3-2-24 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be repealed; and that §3-2-5, §3-2-6, §3-2-7, §3-2-10, §3-2-11 and §3-2-18 of said code be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
(B) In the case of a homeless person having no fixed residence address who nevertheless resides and remains regularly within the county, the address of a shelter, assistance center or family member with whom he or she has regular contact or other specific location approved by the clerk of the county commission for the purposes of establishing a voting residence; and or
(4) The applicant's signature, under penalty of perjury as provided in section thirty-six of this article, to the attestation of eligibility to register to vote and to the truth of the information given: Provided, That the clerk may accept the electronically-transmitted signature kept on file with another approved state database for any applicant who applies to register to vote using an approved electronic voter registration system, in accordance with procedures promulgated by the Secretary of State.
(6) The applicant’s e-mail address;
(6) (7) The address at which the applicant was last registered to vote, if any, for the purpose of canceling or transferring the previous registration; and
(7) (8) The applicant's gender.
(b) Any eligible voter who desires to apply for voter registration in person at the office of the clerk of the county commission shall complete a voter registration application on the prescribed form and shall sign the oath required on that application in the presence of the clerk of the county commission or his or her deputy: Provided, That an individual may apply for voter registration using an approved electronic voter registration system available at the office of the clerk in participating localities. The system may electronically transfer the voter’s signature stored in the database of another state agency in accordance with procedures promulgated by the Secretary of State. The applicant shall present valid identification and proof of age, except that the clerk may waive the proof of age requirement if the applicant is clearly over the age of eighteen.
(f) Upon receipt of the application for registration by the appropriate clerk of the county commission, the clerk shall: (1) Attempt to establish whether the residence address given is within the boundaries of an incorporated municipality and, if so, make the proper entry required for municipal residents to be properly identified for municipal voter registration purposes; and
(1) In the case of an individual who votes in person, a current and valid photo identification; or a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck or other government document that shows the name and address of the voter; (2) In the case of an individual who votes by mail, a copy of a current and valid photo identification or a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck or other government document that shows the name and address of the voter, submitted with the ballot.
(1) Who registers to vote by mail under 42 U.S.C. §1973gg-4, et seq., and submits as part of his or her registration either a copy of a current and valid photo identification or a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck or government document that shows the name and address of the voter;
(k) On and after July 1, 2006, any person who agrees to mail or to deliver a signed voter registration application to the Secretary of State or the clerk of the county commission and who intentionally interferes with the applicant's effort to register either by altering or destroying the application or by failing to mail or to deliver the application in a timely manner is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $1,000, or confined in a jail for not more than one year, or both. For purposes of this subsection, the mailing or delivery of an application is timely if it is mailed or delivered within fifteen days after the applicant signs the application or in accordance with the provisions of article two, chapter three of this code for processing before the closing of the registration records for the pending election, whichever comes first.
(m) Any person who agrees to mail or to deliver a signed voter registration application to the Secretary of State or to the clerk of the county commission and who exerts improper influence on the choice of party affiliation of an applicant or otherwise attempts to improperly interfere with or intimidate an applicant relating to that applicant’s decision to register or not to register, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $1,000 or confined in jail for not more than one year, or both fined and confined.
(n) Any person who agrees to mail or to deliver a signed voter registration application to the Secretary of State or to the clerk of the county commission and who copies or causes to be copied, manually or electronically, any information contained within the registration document other than the name of the applicant and the date of the applicants’s signature is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $1,000, or confined in jail for not more than one year, or both fined and confined.
(a) The Division of Motor Vehicles or any other division or department that may be established by law to perform motor vehicle driver licensing services shall provide each qualified registrant, as an integral and simultaneous part of every process of application for the issuance, renewal or change of address of any motor vehicle driver's license or official identification card, pursuant to the provisions of article two, chapter seventeen-b of this code, a voter registration application as prescribed in section five of this article when the Division’s regional offices are open for regular business: Provided, That an individual may apply for voter registration using an approved electronic voter registration system if available at a Division of Motor Vehicles regional office in participating localities.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code, the Division of Motor Vehicles is required to release the personal information of any applicant, including the electronic signature, entered in its records for a driver’s license or nonoperator’s identification purposes that is also required by the voter registration laws to the West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office upon notice and written consent of the applicant. The notice and consent shall be a required component of any online voter registration application made available to the general public by the West Virginia Secretary of State. The release of an applicant’s signature by the Division of Motor Vehicles to the Office of the Secretary of State shall apply to any voter registration application approved through an online voter registration system promulgated by the Secretary of State, regardless of the location of the online user and provided the user grants written consent upon notice.
(b) (c) Any person who fails to sign the voter registration application or who fails to return the voter registration application to a driver licensing facility or to an appropriate voter registration office shall be considered to have declined to register. Information regarding any person's failure to sign the voter registration application is confidential and may not be used for any purpose other than to determine voter registration.
(c) (d) Any qualified voter who submits the application for registration pursuant to the provisions of subsection (a) of this section in person at a driver licensing facility at the time of applying for, obtaining, renewing or transferring his or her driver's license or official identification card and who presents identification and proof of age at that time shall not be required to make his or her first vote in person or to again present identification in order to make that registration valid.
(d) (e) Any qualified voter who submits by mail or by delivery by a third party an application for registration on the form used in conjunction with driver licensing shall be required to make his or her first vote in person and present identification as required for other mail registration in accordance with the provisions of subsection (g), section ten of this article: Provided, That if the applicant has been previously registered in the jurisdiction and the application is for a change of address, change of name, change of political party affiliation or other correction, the presentation of identification and first vote in person is not required.
(e) (f) Any application for voter registration submitted pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be considered as updating any previous voter registration by the applicant and shall authorize the cancellation of registration in any other county or state in which the applicant was previously registered.
(f) (g)) Any change of address from one residence to another within the same county which is submitted for driver licensing or nonoperator’s identification purposes in accordance with applicable law shall also serve as a notice of change of address for voter registration purposes if requested by the applicant after notice and written consent of the applicant. unless the individual indicates on the form that the change of address is not for voter registration purposes.
(g) (h) Completed applications for voter registration or change of address for voting purposes received by any office providing driver licensing services shall be forwarded to the Secretary of State within five days of receipt, unless other means are available for a more expedited transmission. The Secretary of State shall remove and file any forms which have not been signed by the applicant and shall forward completed, signed applications to the clerk of the appropriate county commission within five days of receipt.
(h) (i) Voter registration application forms containing voter information which are returned to a driver licensing office unsigned shall be collected and maintained by the Division of Motor Vehicles, submitted to the Secretary of State’s Office, and maintained by that office for two years according to procedural rules promulgated the retention policy adopted by the Secretary of State.
(3) "Inactive voter registration files" means the files of registration records, whether maintained on paper forms or in digitized data format, containing the names, addresses, birth dates and other required information for all persons designated "inactive" pursuant to the provisions of section twenty-seven of this article following the return of the prescribed notices as undeliverable at the address entered on the voter registration or for failure of the contacted voter to return a completed notice of address confirmation within thirty days of the mailing. For the purposes of this chapter or of any other provisions of this code relating to elections conducted under the provisions of this chapter, whenever a requirement is based on the number of registered voters, including, but not limited to, the number of ballots to be printed, the limitations on the size of a precinct, or the number of petition signatures required for election purposes, only those registrations included on the active voter registration files shall be counted and voter registrations included on the inactive voter registration files, as defined in this subdivision, shall not be counted.
(7) “Confirmation pending files” means the files containing all required information for persons who have been identified to be included in the next succeeding mailing of address confirmation notices as set forth by the “National Voter Registration Act of 1993.”(42 USC 1973gg.)
(b) (c) Active voter registration files, confirmation pending files and inactive voter registration files may be maintained in the same physical location or database, providing the records are coded, marked or arranged in such a way as to make the status of the registration immediately obvious. Canceled voter registration files, pending application files, and rejected application files shall each be maintained in separate physical locations or databases. However, all these records shall be maintained in the statewide centralized voter registration database, subject to a schedule of retention.
(d) (e) Within one hundred twenty sixty days after each primary, general, municipal or special election, the clerk of the county commission shall as evidenced by the presence or absence of signatures on the pollbooks for such election, correct any errors or omissions on the voter registration records resulting from the poll clerks erroneously checking or failing to check the registration records as required by the provisions of section thirty-four, article one of this chapter, or shall enter the voting records into the state uniform data system if the precinct books have been replaced with printed registration books as provided in section twenty-one of this article.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide an electronic voter registration system allowing for greater utilization of the Statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS); allow for use of a designated address for voter registration purposes for participants in the Address Confidentiality Program; establish an offense and related penalty for tampering with or copying voter registration information collected by third-party registration drives; delete obsolete language related to manual voter registration systems; shorten the period of time during which county clerks may enter voter history data into the statewide, centralized voter registration database; clarify certain record-keeping requirements related to confirmation mailings required by the National Voter Registration Act of 1993; and restrict the public release of voter e-mail addresses.