West Virginia Code 3-2-3 – State authority relating to voter registration; chief election official
(a) The Secretary of State, as chief election official of the state as provided in section six, article one-a of this chapter, shall have general supervision of the voter registration procedures and practices and the maintenance of voter registration records in the state and shall have authority to require reports and investigate violations to ensure the proper conduct of voter registration throughout the state and all of its subdivisions. Upon written notice to the clerk of the county commission of a county of the need for voter registration record maintenance and the failure of that clerk to complete such maintenance within ninety days of the notice, the Secretary of State may make changes in the voter registration data necessary to comply with list maintenance requirements of sections four-a, twenty-three, twenty-five, twenty-six and twenty-seven of this article: Provided, That the secretary shall send the notice by certified mail, return receipt requested.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 3-2-3
- Election: shall mean the procedure whereby the voters of this state or any subdivision thereof elect persons to fill public offices, or elect members of a Constitutional convention, or vote on public questions. See West Virginia Code 3-1-2
- State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
- Voter: shall mean any person who possesses the statutory and Constitutional qualifications for voting. See West Virginia Code 3-1-2
(b) The Secretary of State, as chief election official of the state, is responsible for implementing, in a uniform and nondiscriminatory manner, a single, uniform, official, centralized, interactive computerized statewide voter registration list defined, maintained and administered at the state level that contains the name and registration information of every legally registered voter in the state and assigns a unique identifier to each legally registered voter in the state.
(c) The Secretary of State is hereby designated as the chief election official responsible for the coordination of this state's responsibilities under 42 U.S.C. § 1973gg, et seq., the “National Voter Registration Act of 1993”. The Secretary of State shall have general supervision of voter registration procedures and practices at agencies and locations providing services as required by the provisions of this article and shall have the authority to propose procedural, interpretive and legislative rules for promulgation in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code for application for registration, transmission of applications, reporting and maintenance of records required by the provisions of this article and for the development, implementation and application of other provisions of this article.