House committees take up absentee ballot, ranked choice voting bills
Feb. 24—dbeard @dominionpost.com MORGANTOWN — The House of Delegates is trying once again to prevent potential abuse of absentee ballots by making it illegal to distribute more than 10 applications for absentee ballots with a specific request by a voter or voters.
And a bill to prohibit ranked choice voting began its committee journey on Monday.
This year's attempt is HB 2400, approved in a divided voice vote on Monday morning by the Judiciary Committee and sent to the House floor. The revised version the committee approved wasn't available to view on Monday afternoon, but the committee attorney said it reflected the 2022 version, which was HB 4293, that passed out of the House and died in the Senate.
HB 4293 said that any election official who knowingly and intentionally mailed or delivered an application for an absentee ballot to any voter without the specific request of that voter would face a misdemeanor charge, subject to fine and jail time upon conviction.
It also said that any person who is not an election official knowingly and intentionally mailed or delivered more than 10 applications for an absentee ballot to a group of voters without the specific request of those voters would also face a misdemeanor charge, subject to fine and jail time upon conviction.
HB 2400 adds that applications shall be available in either physical form at the clerk's office or online.
Delegate Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia, has regularly opposed the bills and said again that absentee ballot applications are government forms freely available online, No other government form carries a criminal penalty for distribution. "It's ridiculous " to criminalize distribution of this form.
County clerks have a process to determine the validity of an application, he said, and the Preston County Clerk has expressed reservations about the bill. "We should put a little faith and trust in our county clerks."
Hansen also noted that this could hamper voting for nursing home residents, who rely on staff to bring them applications for absentee ballots. Likewise for people with disabilities, and those who tend not to vote because of transportation, job or family issues.
Delegate Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, said the bill could also criminalize neighbors who help neighbors by bringing them ballot applications.
Secretary of State General Counsel David Cook, in answer to some questions, said the bill doesn't pose legal problems in terms of federal regulations for nursing home residents.
The committee advanced the bill over the nay votes of the two Democrats.
Ranked choice voting Judiciary's Legal Services Subcommittee took a first look at HB 2683, to prohibit ranked choice voting.
It gives a ling definition: "Ranked choice voting is defined as a method for casting and tabulating votes in which voters rank candidates for an office in order of preference, and then tabulation occurs in rounds, with each round dropping the candidate with the least support and then reallocating the first-place votes from the eliminated candidate to the second choice candidates."
The bill makes this illegal for any local state or federal election, and any such election conducted in this manner would be invalid. It does not apply to internal party processes.
Lead sponsor Rick Hillenbrand, R-Hampshire, said the bill is an effort to assure clarity, where ranked choice voting brings complexity and confusion. "RCV methods are anything but transparent and simple to understand and they're confusing as heck."
National Public Radio cites figures from the advocacy group FairVote that indicate as of December 2024, 51 American jurisdictions have RCV in place for all voters in public elections. This includes two states, three counties, and 46 cities.
Ballotpedia gives a different figure, saying RCV is used statewide in Alaska, Hawaii and Maine. It says RCV is prohibited in Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
Under the House committee process, Monday's discussion was the initial hearing of the bill. At the next subcommittee meeting, the bill can be marked up, debated and voted to advance to the full committee.
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This is a President who failed to call up the National Guard when it was actually needed — on January 6th — and then pardoned the participants as one of his first acts as president. They want a spectacle. They want the violence.' For the party at large, it's a notable swing from the immediate aftermath of Trump's victory in November, when many Democratic leaders in California and elsewhere sought to moderate on the issue — or at least strike a more muted tone than they did during Trump's first term. Polling suggests that voter frustration over Democrats' handling of border security and crime played a strong role in Trump's sweeping return to power, and many elected officials adjusted in response. Newsom was among them. He has avoided using the word 'sanctuary' to defend the state's immigration laws that limit police cooperation with ICE. 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He also vowed to veto a Democratic-led bill that would have applied such restrictions to state prisons and is now proposing steep cuts to a health care program for undocumented immigrants. Earlier this year, he suggested the legal fight over Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland resident mistakenly deported by the Trump administration and imprisoned in El Salvador — he is now back in U.S. custody and facing federal human trafficking charges — was a 'distraction' intended to take Democrats' focus away from other parts of Trump's agenda (Newsom's office later said his remarks were misconstrued). But in recent days, the governor has criticized federal deportation efforts, including reports that federal authorities threatened the family of a Bakersfield girl with a rare, life-threatening medical condition with deportation, despite the family earlier being granted humanitarian protection. 'The @GOP are sending a 4 year old off to her death without a care in the world. 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Bernie Sanders: Trump moving US 'into authoritarianism' after troops sent to LA
Bernie Sanders: Trump moving US 'into authoritarianism' after troops sent to LA Show Caption Hide Caption Trump orders troops to LA as agents, protesters clash over immigration President Trump ordered 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles to combat violent protesters opposed to immigration enforcement. WASHINGTON − Progressive firebrand Sen. Bernie Sanders said he believes President Donald Trump is 'moving this country rapidly into authoritarianism" after Trump deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to help quell immigration protests in Los Angeles. 'This guy wants all of the power. He does not believe in the Constitution. He does not believe in the rule of law. My understanding is that the governor of California, the mayor of the city of Los Angeles did not request the National Guard, but he thinks he has a right to do anything he wants,' Sanders, a Vermont independent, told CNN's Dana Bash on 'State of the Union.' The protests come as the Trump administration has taken stronger actions to arrest and deport undocumented immigrants. Demonstrators allege the administration's immigration enforcement has violated civil and human rights. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on June 7 that Trump signed a memo deploying the guardsmen 'to address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester.' Both California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, however, have criticized the move, saying it would only escalate tensions in the area. 'I would say that to a large degree, the future of this country rests with a small number of Republicans in the House and Senate who know better, who do know what the Constitution is about, and it's high time they stood up for our Constitution and the rule of law,' Sanders said. Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin, meanwhile, defended the president's move to Bash, arguing that the situation is not under control. The Department of Homeland Security said that some protesters have hurled large chunks of broken concrete at officers, slashed tires and defaced buildings. Video footage of some of the protests showed dozens of green-uniformed security personnel with gas masks, lined up on a road strewn with overturned shopping carts as small canisters exploded into gas clouds. 'The president has made it very clear. If the governor or the mayor of the city isn't willing to protect the citizens of his state or the city, then the president will. The American people elected him to restore the law and order back to our streets," Mullin said. Contributing: Reuters
