§3-2-19 Maintenance of active and inactive registration files in precinct record books and county alphabetical registration file. - West Virginia Statutes

§3-2-19. Maintenance of active and inactive registration files in precinct record books and county alphabetical registration file.
(a) Each county shall continue to maintain a record of each active and inactive voter registration in precinct registration books until the statewide voter registration system is adopted pursuant to the provisions of section four-a of this article, fully implemented and given final approval by the secretary of state. The precinct registration books shall be maintained as follows:

(1) Each active voter registration shall be entered in the precinct book or books for the county precinct in which the voter's residence is located and shall be filed alphabetically by name, alphabetically within categories, or by numerical street address, as determined by the clerk of the county commission for the effective administration of registration and elections. No active voter registration record shall be removed from the precinct registration books unless the registration is lawfully transferred or canceled pursuant to the provisions of this article.

(2) Each voter registration which is designated "inactive" pursuant to the procedures prescribed in section twenty-seven of this article shall be retained in the precinct book for the county precinct in which the voter's last recorded residence address is located until the time period expires for which a record must remain on the inactive files. Every inactive registration shall be clearly identified by a prominent tag or notation or arranged in a separate section in the precinct book clearly denoting the registration status. No inactive voter registration record shall be removed from the precinct registration books unless the registration is lawfully transferred or canceled pursuant to the provisions of this article.

(b) For municipal elections, the registration records of active and inactive voters shall be maintained as follows:

(1) County precinct books shall be used in municipal elections when the county precinct boundaries and the municipal precinct boundaries are the same and all registrants of the precinct are entitled to vote in state, county and municipal elections within the precinct or when the registration records of municipal voters within a county precinct are separated and maintained in a separate municipal section or book for that county precinct and can be used either alone or in combination with other precinct books to make up a complete set of registration records for the municipal election precinct.

(2) Upon request of the municipality, and if the clerk of the county commission does not object, separate municipal precinct books shall be maintained in cases where municipal or ward boundaries divide county precincts and it is impractical to use county precinct books or separate municipal sections of those precinct books. If the clerk of the county commission objects to the request of a municipality for separate municipal precinct books, the state election commission must determine whether the separate municipal precinct books should be maintained.

(3) No registration record may be removed from a municipal registration record unless the registration is lawfully transferred or canceled pursuant to the provisions of this article in both the county and the municipal registration records.

(c) Within thirty days following the entry of any annexation order or change in street names or numbers, the governing body of an incorporated municipality shall file with the clerk of the county commission a certified current official municipal boundary map and a list of streets and ranges of street numbers within the municipality to assist the clerk in determining whether a voter's address is within the boundaries of the municipality.

(d) Each county, so long as precinct registration books are maintained, shall maintain a duplicate record of every active and inactive voter registration in a county alphabetical file. The alphabetical file may be maintained on individual paper forms or, upon approval of the secretary of state of a qualified data storage program, may be maintained in digitized format. A qualified data storage program shall be required to contain the same information for each voter registration as the precinct books, shall be subject to proper security from unauthorized alteration and shall be regularly duplicated to backup data storage to prevent accidental destruction of the information on file.