Bill Text: WV SB673 | 2023 | Regular Session | Introduced

West Virginia Senate Bill 673 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Providing voters with ability to identify and verify their ballot cast

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 11-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-02-17 - To Judiciary [SB673 Detail]

Download: West_Virginia-2023-SB673-Introduced.html

WEST virginia legislature

2023 regular session

Introduced

Senate Bill 673

By Senators Boley, Clements, Maynard, Smith, Stover, Stuart, Tarr, and Weld

[Introduced February 17, 2023; referred
to the Committee on the Judiciary]

A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §3-1-32a, relating to providing voters with the ability to identify and verify their ballot cast in a statewide election held in West Virginia.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS.

§3-1-32a. Voter ballot identification and verification.

(a) Purpose. – The purpose of this section is to provide voters with the ability to identify and verify their ballot cast in a statewide election held in West Virginia

(b) Definition. – "Cast vote record" is defined as a summary report produced by voting system-specific software that provides each vote cast in every race marked by a voter participating in a jurisdiction with the Express Vote system.

(1) Counties using the Express Vote system shall enable the ballot tabulator functionality that captures ballots images in the polling places.

(2) Ballot images and cast vote record shall provide no personally identifying information of any voter.

(3) The cast vote record shall include a date stamp, whether physical or digital as the system allows, that indicated the date the ballot images were downloaded by the election jurisdiction.

(4) County election officials shall provide the Secretary of State with the cast vote record and an image of each ballot cast in the jurisdiction for each election by a certain date after the election is certified.

(5) The Secretary of State shall publish the cast vote record and ballot images, on a precinct and county basis, which shall be publicly available on a website managed by the Secretary of State.

(6) The ballot stock shall have printed thereon a unique ballot number for each ballot in three locations on each ballot stock as follows:

(A) On a ballot stub, which is perforated, that is to be combined with all other ballot stubs at the polling place by the poll workers;

(B) On another ballot stub, which is to be kept by the voter casting the ballot; and

(C) On the ballot itself, which is to be viewable in the ballot images provided to the Secretary of State and made available for public viewing on the Secretary of State’s website. Summarily, the ballot stock design shall have two perforations to permit the tearing and removal of the two ballot stubs at the polling place, one stub which is kept by the poll workers, and the other stub which is kept by the voter.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide voters with the ability to identify and verify their ballot cast in a statewide election held in West Virginia.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.