Kanawha County legislators are eyeing changes to state laws thatwould prevent felons from holding office and ensure voters are whothey say they are.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Corey Palumbo, D-Kanawha, is preparingto introduce a bill he says will fix the loophole in state law thatallows felons to hold public office.
Meanwhile in the House of Delegates, Kanawha County RepublicansPatrick Lane, Eric Nelson and Tim Armstead are working onlegislation to require voters to show photo ID at their pollingplaces. They also are drafting their own version of a fix to thefelon loophole.
While the Republican delegates say they have been working ontheir legislation for some time, Palumbo's bill comes as a directresponse to the recent controversy surrounding Lincoln Countysheriff candidate and convicted felon Jerry Weaver.
Weaver, 62, pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to buyvotes in 2005. As part of the plea, he confessed to taking between$500 and $5,000 from then-Circuit Clerk Greg Stowers to buy votesduring every election between 1990 and 2004.
He spent one year in a federal penitentiary and was on probationfor three years following his release.
Palumbo said it was never the Legislature's intent to allowfelons to hold public office.
"It erodes public confidence in all elected officials, quitehonestly, if you have this kind of situation going on," he said.
The Legislature passed a law banning felons from holding publicoffice in 1931. That law says, "No person convicted of treason,felony, or bribery in any election, before any court in or out ofthis state, shall, while such conviction remains unreversed, beelected or appointed to any office under the laws of this state."
But the state Supreme Court gutted that law in 1933, saying itwas not clear what lawmakers meant by "unreversed." Lawmakers didnot correct the code following that decision, and the issue wasn'tthought of much until Weaver came along.
Palumbo said he didn't know what the justices on the court werethinking when they made the decision, but he thinks the meaning ofthe original law is plain.
"Certainly, when I look at the statute that's on the books rightnow, to me the intent is clear, but somehow 80 years ago the courtwiggled its way around that," he said. "To most people, unreversedmeans the conviction hasn't been overturned."
Palumbo's bill would take the "unreversed" section out of thecode.
He said it would restore the original intent of the law and say,"No person under conviction for treason, a felony, perjury orbribery in an election may be elected or appointed to electedoffice."
The bill would define conviction as "a finding of guilt that hasnot been reversed, vacated or expunged by a court of competentjurisdiction," he said.
He said that should make the matter clear to any court.
"If you've been convicted of a felony, or bribery or treason -period - you can't hold an elected office," he said.
Lane said he, Armstead and GOP staff counsel were working on asimilar bill, although it hasn't been drafted.
He, Nelson and Armstead introduced another vote fraud preventionbill in the House of Delegates Wednesday.
It would require a person to present a government-issued photo ID- which could include a driver's license, passport, work ID, or aDMV-issued non-operators ID - when they vote.
Voters who lacked photo IDs would be allowed to sign affidavitsattesting to their identity before casting their ballots. Theaffidavits could be challenged at a later date.
"We just wanted to make sure that we had a system in place thatprotects the integrity of elections in West Virginia and tries tocut down on voter fraud as much as possible," Lane said.
One of the arguments against a photo ID policy has been the factthat not everyone carries one.
But Lane and Nelson cite West Virginia data showing licenseddrivers and ID card holders between the ages of 18 and 64 outnumberregistered voters in that age range by 162,386. For those 65 andolder, ID holders outnumber voters by 29,154.
Nelson says constituents have asked him why they need to have aphoto ID to cash a check, board an airplane or even buy coldmedicine, and yet one is not needed when they cast a ballot.
Voters requesting absentee ballots would not need to showidentification. Anyone confined to a nursing home also would beexempt.
He said the recent election fraud issues show laws like this oneare needed in West Virginia.
"We've had the issues in various counties, and I think there's aquestion to what is the integrity to our voting right now, and Ithink this helps restore some of that integrity," Nelson said.
The bill has been assigned to the House Judiciary Committee.Lane, who serves on that committee, said he was working withChairman Tim Miley, D-Harrison, to make sure it comes up forconsideration this session.
Contact writer Jared Hunt at jared.hunt@dailymail.com or 304-348-5148.
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