Each chamber passed bills regarding elections
The House of Delegates passed House Bill 4013 on Feb. 19. The bill would require a person desiring to vote to present documentation identifying the voter.
Delegate Gary Howell, R-Mineral, said passing the bill could only bring to light the issues and reasons the legislation needed enacted.
“To those that say this may be a voter suppression bill, we may find out they’re right, but the voters suppressed may be the ones that are actually committing the fraud,” Howell said.
Delegate Don Perdue, D-Wayne, said he couldn’t support the bill because absentee ballots were not addressed.
The bill heads to the Senate for consideration.
The Senate, on Feb. 23, passed Senate Bill 591 – relating to voter registration list maintenance and combined voter registration and driver licensing fund. The bill would modify two sections of state code to permit the Secretary of State to enter into an agreement with the Division of Motor Vehicles from the DMV to provide certain information. The information would be used by the SOS “for the purpose of the voter registration list maintenance comparison through an interstate data-sharing agreement,” according to the language of the bill.
Sen. Herb Snyder, D-Jefferson, said his concern was if the bill required a photo identification.
“I just want to make sure the body knows this doesn’t require a (driver’s) license to vote,” Snyder said.
Reassured by Sen. Charles Trump, R-Morgan, explaining the bill, SB 591 passed unanimously. The bill heads to the House of Delegates for consideration.
Other election bills of interest:
HB 4587 – Relating to violations associated with absent voters’ ballots
HB 4676 – Relating to the nonpartisan election of prosecuting attorneys generally
SB 379 – Relating to candidate filing fees
SB 639 – Requiring disclosure of dark money political expenditures
