State lawmakers may consider
legislation next year that would eliminate the hand vote canvassing process as
it takes place now after each election in West Virginia
A bill supported by the West
Virginia County Clerks Association was approved by a legislative interim
committee Tuesday, giving it a push for possible consideration in next year’s
regular legislative session.
County commissions are now required
to be on a canvassing board that hand counts a number of precincts within a few
days following an election, checking for accuracy of the final vote totals.
Supporters of the bill claim there’s no longer a purpose for the hand canvass
because of very accurate vote counting machines.
Kanawha County Commission Attorney
Marc Slotnick told lawmakers Tuesday the machines are checked at least three
times an election for accuracy.
“They’re checked at a public test.
They are checked at a pre-test right before the election. They are
tested after the election and then they are checked at the canvass when we
add those various ballots,” Slotnick said.
The vote canvassing following the
Nov. 2012 election took 12 hours in Kanawha
County
“So we have human beings who are
sitting there trying to count and you know what the ballot looked like last
year, when you throw in executive committees and everything else, it takes an
incredible amount of time to try and match-up what the computer can do rather
rapidly,” Slotnick said.
Harrison County Delegate Sam Cann
expressed some concern about the proposal at Tuesday’s meeting.
“Human nature is human nature and I
have some reservation because there are so many darned smart people out there,”
Cann said. “If they know there’s not a check they get smarter.”
The proposed bill keeps the state’s
recount system in place. A candidate can ask for a hand count or an automated
count.
The 60-day regular legislative
session begins in early-January. This week’s interim committee meetings run
through Wednesday.
