Including WV in agreement among states to elect President and Vice President by national popular vote
Senate Bill No. 463
(By Senators Beach, Browning, Edgell, Fanning, Foster,
Green, Klempa, Laird, Miller, Snyder,
Stollings, Wills, Yost, Kessler (Acting President), McCabe and
Jenkins)
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[Introduced February 8, 2011; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §3-13-1, §3-13-2,
§3-13-3, §3-13-4, §3-13-5 and §3-13-6, all relating to
implementing an agreement among the states to elect the
President and Vice President by national popular vote; setting
forth who may be members to the agreement; establishing the
manner of appointing presidential electors in the member
states; setting forth the provisions of the agreement that the
member states must enact into state law; setting forth the
responsibilities of certain officials; and defining terms.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new article, designated §3-13-1, §3-13-2,
§3-13-3, §3-13-4, §3-13-5 and §3-13-6, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 13. AGREEMENT AMONG THE STATES TO ELECT THE PRESIDENT BY
NATIONAL VOTE.
§3-13-1. Agreement among the states to elect the President by
national popular vote.
The agreement among the states to elect the President by
national popular vote is enacted into law and entered into with all
other jurisdictions legally joining in the agreement in the form
substantially as set forth in this article.
§3-13-2. Definitions.
For purposes of this article:
(1) "Chief executive" shall mean the Governor of a state of
the United States or the Mayor of the District of Columbia.
(2) "Elector slate" shall mean a slate of candidates who have
been nominated in a state for the position of presidential elector
in association with a presidential slate.
(3) "Chief election official" shall mean the state official or
body that is authorized to certify the total number of popular
votes for each presidential slate.
(4) "Presidential elector" shall mean an elector for President
and Vice President of the United States.
(5) "Presidential elector certifying official" shall mean the
state official or body that is authorized to certify the
appointment of the state's presidential electors.
(6) "Presidential slate" shall mean a slate of two persons, the first of whom has been nominated as a candidate for President
of the United States and the second of whom has been nominated as
a candidate for Vice President of the United States, or any legal
successors to such persons, regardless of whether both names appear
on the ballot presented to the voter in a particular state.
(7) "State" shall mean a state of the United States and the
District of Columbia.
(8) "Statewide popular election" shall mean a general election
in which votes are cast for presidential slates by individual
voters and counted on a statewide basis.
§3-13-3. Membership.
Any state of the United States and the District of Columbia
may become a member of this agreement by enacting this agreement.
§3-13-4. Right of the people in member states to vote for
President and Vice President.
Each member state shall conduct a statewide popular election
for President and Vice President of the United States.
§3-13-5. Manner of appointing presidential electors in member
states.
(a) Prior to the time set by law for the meeting and voting by
the presidential electors, the chief election official of each
member state shall determine the number of votes for each
presidential slate in each state of the United States and in the
District of Columbia in which votes have been cast in a statewide popular election and shall add such votes together to produce a
"national popular vote total" for each presidential slate.
(b) The chief election official of each member state shall
designate the presidential slate with the largest national popular
vote total as the "national popular vote winner."
(c) The presidential elector certifying official of each
member state shall certify the appointment in that official's own
state of the elector slate nominated in that state in association
with the national popular vote winner.
(d) At least six days before the day fixed by law for the
meeting and voting by the presidential electors, each member state
shall make a final determination of the number of popular votes
cast in the state for each presidential slate and shall communicate
an official statement of such determination within twenty-four
hours to the chief election official of each other member state.
(e) The chief election official of each member state shall
treat as conclusive an official statement containing the number of
popular votes in a state for each presidential slate made by the
day established by federal law for making a state's final
determination conclusive as to the counting of electoral votes by
Congress.
(f) In event of a tie for the national popular vote winner,
the presidential elector certifying official of each member state
shall certify the appointment of the elector slate nominated in association with the presidential slate receiving the largest
number of popular votes within that official's own state.
(g) If, for any reason, the number of presidential electors
nominated in a member state in association with the national
popular vote winner is less than or greater than that state's
number of electoral votes, the presidential candidate on the
presidential slate that has been designated as the national popular
vote winner shall have the power to nominate the presidential
electors for that state and that state's presidential elector
certifying official shall certify the appointment of such nominees.
(h) The chief election official of each member state shall
immediately release to the public all vote counts or statements of
votes as they are determined or obtained.
(i) This article shall govern the appointment of presidential
electors in each member state in any year in which this agreement
is, on July 20, in effect in states cumulatively possessing a
majority of the electoral votes.
§3-13-6. Other provisions.
(a) This agreement shall take effect when states cumulatively
possessing a majority of the electoral votes have enacted this
agreement in substantially the same form and the enactments by such
states have taken effect in each state.
(b) Any member state may withdraw from this agreement, except
that a withdrawal occurring six months or less before the end of a President's term shall not become effective until a President or
Vice President shall have been qualified to serve the next term.
(c) The chief executive of each member state shall promptly
notify the chief executive of all other states of when this
agreement has been enacted and has taken effect in that official's
state, when the state has withdrawn from this agreement, and when
this agreement takes effect generally.
(d) This agreement shall terminate if the electoral college is
abolished.
(e) If any provision of this agreement is held invalid, the
remaining provisions shall not be affected.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to implement an agreement
among the states to elect the President and Vice President by
national popular vote. The bill sets forth who may be members to
the agreement. The bill establishes the manner of appointing
presidential electors in the member states. The bill sets forth
the provisions of the agreement that the member states must enact
into state law. The bill also sets forth the responsibilities of
certain officials. The bill further defines terms.
This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
