Anyone who has changed their Kanawha County voter registration status - their address or their party affiliation - through the secretary of state's online site should have no problems, but new Kanawha County voters who register for the first time online still must complete the process with a mail-in form, County Clerk Vera McCormick said.
Online voter registration was launched in October in West Virginia, and, in 53 of the 55 counties, has proceeded with nary a public hiccup.
The county clerks of Cabell and Kanawha counties, though, have insisted that the online registration process be completed with a mail-in form, citing discomfort with some of the security provisions of the online process.
McCormick and Cabell County Clerk Karen Cole have been sending pre-stamped envelopes to would-be voters who registered online that must be filled out and mailed back to complete the process.
Both clerks mentioned their concern that the online process does not require a physical signature. The online process pulls a potential voter's signature already on file with the West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles and matches it up with the voter's registration information.
McCormick said anyone who has changed their registration online in Kanawha County does not need to do the further paper step.
She said the distinction was that those voters had already signed a form when they initially registered, so there were two signatures, that one and the one from the DMV.
McCormick said about 2,700 people in Kanawha County have registered to vote after completing the online process and then filling out and returning the paper form that was mailed to them.
About 250 have completed the online process but remain unregistered because they have not returned the mail-in form, McCormick said, adding that the process is ongoing for those people.
According to the Secretary of State's Office, 26 Kanawha County voters did register online without the mail-in step. Of those 26, 23 came in the first week of October, the first week registration was open.
"It could have been that first couple of days, before we had a chance to test this out," McCormick said.
The deadline to register to vote in the May 10 primary is April 19.
McCormick said anyone who completed the online registration process by April 19 would be eligible for the May election, so long as they returned the additional paper requirement by the time the voter rolls are completed and sent to the polls, a day or two before the election.
Online registrations of any type completed after April 19, in any county, are not eligible to vote in the May election, the same as mail-in or in-person registrations.
The last day to request a form for an absentee ballot for the May election is April 29. Absentee ballot request forms must reach the clerk's office by May 4, and absentee ballots must be postmarked by May 10.
In 2013, when the bill allowing online voter registration was passed, there apparently was no discussion that it would allow county clerks to essentially opt out of the program.
The bill passed the Senate unanimously and passed the House 79-20.
Throughout the legislative committee process, the language making the program optional for county clerks was not amended.
The relevant language says that a county clerk "may accept the electronically transmitted signature kept on file" at the DMV. Because it says "may" and not "shall," it gives county clerks the right to demand an actual, on paper, signature.
Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, who requested the online registration bill in 2013 said the "may" wording was part of a compromise made in writing the bill.
"It's probably something that was negotiated and worked out before it was introduced," said Sen. Corey Palumbo, D-Kanawha, who sponsored the bill.
Palumbo said it's clear that the law is written that way but that he doesn't recall discussing an opt-out provision during the legislative process.
"It may be as simple as that was the only way that the bill could pass with the clerks' support," he said. "I think it's something we may want to consider, going forward, whether they should be required to accept it. It doesn't make much sense to have 53 counties doing it and two not doing it."
Reach David Gutman at david.gutman@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5119 or follow @davidlgutman on Twitter.