dbeard@dominionpost.com
MORGANTOWN – The House of Delegates is trying once again to prevent potential abuse of absentee ballots by making it illegal to distribute more than 10 applications for absentee ballots with a specific request by a voter or voters.
And a bill to prohibit ranked choice voting began its committee journey on Monday.
This year’s attempt is HB 2400, approved in a divided voice vote on Monday morning by the Judiciary Committee and sent to the House floor. The revised version the committee approved wasn’t available to view on Monday afternoon, but the committee attorney said it reflected the 2022 version, which was HB 4293, that passed out of the House and died in the Senate.
HB 4293 said that any election official who knowingly and intentionally mailed or delivered an application for an absentee ballot to any voter without the specific request of that voter would face a misdemeanor charge, subject to fine and jail time upon conviction.
It also said that any person who is not an election official knowingly and intentionally mailed or delivered more than 10 applications for an absentee ballot to a group of voters without the specific request of those voters would also face a misdemeanor charge, subject to fine and jail time upon conviction.
HB 2400 adds that applications shall be available in either physical form at the clerk’s office or online.
Delegate Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia, has regularly opposed the bills and said again that absentee ballot applications are government forms freely available online, No other government form carries a criminal penalty for distribution. “It’s ridiculous” to criminalize distribution of this form.
County clerks have a process to determine the validity of an application, he said, and the Preston County Clerk has expressed reservations about the bill. “We should put a little faith and trust in our county clerks.”
Hansen also noted that this could hamper voting for nursing home residents, who rely on staff to bring them applications for absentee ballots. Likewise for people with disabilities, and those who tend not to vote because of transportation, job or family issues.
Delegate Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, said the bill could also criminalize neighbors who help neighbors by bringing them ballot applications.
Secretary of State General Counsel David Cook, in answer to some questions, said the bill doesn’t pose legal problems in terms of federal regulations for nursing home residents.
The committee advanced the bill over the nay votes of the two Democrats.
Ranked choice voting
Judiciary’s Legal Services Subcommittee took a first look at HB 2683, to prohibit ranked choice voting.
It gives a ling definition: “Ranked choice voting is defined as a method for casting and tabulating votes in which voters rank candidates for an office in order of preference, and then tabulation occurs in rounds, with each round dropping the candidate with the least support and then reallocating the first-place votes from the eliminated candidate to the second choice candidates.”
The bill makes this illegal for any local state or federal election, and any such election conducted in this manner would be invalid. It does not apply to internal party processes.
Lead sponsor Rick Hillenbrand, R-Hampshire, said the bill is an effort to assure clarity, where ranked choice voting brings complexity and confusion. “RCV methods are anything but transparent and simple to understand and they’re confusing as heck.”
National Public Radio cites figures from the advocacy group FairVote that indicate as of December 2024, 51 American jurisdictions have RCV in place for all voters in public elections. This includes two states, three counties, and 46 cities.
Ballotpedia gives a different figure, saying RCV is used statewide in Alaska, Hawaii and Maine. It says RCV is prohibited in Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
Under the House committee process, Monday’s discussion was the initial hearing of the bill. At the next subcommittee meeting, the bill can be marked up, debated and voted to advance to the full committee.
