West Virginia Code 3-4A-33 – Tampering with vote-recording devices, electronic poll books, ballot labels, ballot or ballot cards, program decks, standard validation test decks or other automatic tabulating equipment; other dishonest practices; attemp…
(a) Any person not an election officer or other public official who shall tamper or attempt to tamper with any vote-recording device, electronic poll book, ballot label, ballot or ballot card, program deck, standard validation test deck or automatic tabulating equipment or in any way intentionally impair or attempt to impair their use and any person who shall be guilty of or shall attempt any dishonest practice upon any such devices or equipment, or with or by their use, shall be deemed guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in a correctional facility for not less than one year nor more than ten years or fined not less than $5,000, or both.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 3-4A-33
- Automatic tabulating equipment: means all apparatus necessary to electronically count votes recorded on ballots, tabulate the results and produce necessary reports. See West Virginia Code 3-4A-2
- Ballot: means a logical or physical device that presents races, candidates and contests, and facilitates the capture of the voter'. See West Virginia Code 3-4A-2
- Candidate: shall mean any person to be voted for at an election. See West Virginia Code 3-1-2
- Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
- 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
- Electronic poll book: means an electronic device containing voter registration information for the purpose of facilitating voting at the precinct. See West Virginia Code 3-4A-2
- Standard validation test deck: means a group of ballots wherein all voting possibilities which can occur in an election are represented. See West Virginia Code 3-4A-2
- Vote-recording device: means equipment that captures and records voter intent by marking a screen to record selections or by using electronically sensible ink to mark selections. See West Virginia Code 3-4A-2
- Voter: shall mean any person who possesses the statutory and Constitutional qualifications for voting. See West Virginia Code 3-1-2
(b) Any clerk of a county commission, county commissioner, ballot commissioner, election commissioner, or poll clerk, or any custodian, technician or other public official authorized to take part in the holding of an election or in preparing for an election, who, with intent to cause or permit any vote-recording device, electronic poll book, program deck, standard validation test deck or other automatic tabulating equipment to fail to record, test or tabulate correctly all votes cast thereon or tabulated therewith, tampers with or disarranges such device in any way, or any part or appliance thereof, or who causes or consents to the use of such device or equipment for vote recording, testing or tabulating at any election with knowledge of the fact that the same is not in order, or not perfectly set and adjusted so that it will correctly record, test or tabulate all votes cast or who, with the purpose of defrauding or deceiving any voter or of causing it to be doubtful for what ticket or candidate or candidates or proposition any vote is cast, or of causing it to appear on said device or devices that the votes cast for one ticket, candidate or proposition, were cast for another ticket, candidate or proposition, removes, changes or mutilates any ballot, ballot card or ballot label on said device or any part thereof, or does any other thing intended to interfere with the validity or accuracy of the election, shall be deemed guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in a correctional facility for not less than one year nor more than ten years, or fined not less than $5,000 or both.