(a) For the conduct of all city elections, the system of “permanent registration of voters” is hereby adopted, as required by W.Va. Code § 8-5-13.
(b) No voter otherwise qualified shall be permitted to vote at any election unless he or she shall have been duly registered, and only those persons who possess the constitutional and statutory qualifications for voting shall be permitted to register, except that minors, otherwise qualified, who shall have attained the age of 18 years by the time of the next ensuing election, may be permitted to register.
(1) No voter so registered shall be required to register again for any election while he or she continues to reside at the same address, or, having moved from such address to another address within the city, is properly transferred according to the provisions of subsection (d) below.
(2) Registration shall be made in the office of the Clerk of the County Commission of Barbour County, West Virginia.
(c) No person may vote in an election when he or she has registered or his or her voter registration has been altered, amended or corrected within a period of 30 days next preceding such election, but this inhibition shall not prevent, during such period of 30 days, additional registrations and changes in voter registrations with reference to future elections. If, registered or his or her voter registration is altered, amended or corrected, he or she shall not be permitted or qualified to vote at such election.
(d) (1) Whenever a voter removes his or her residence from one place to another within the city, he or she shall request that the change be made on his or her registration record. Such request shall be made by filing in, and, if he or she is able, signing under oath or affirmation the necessary form, which may be procured in person or by mail from the office of the Clerk of the County Commission.
(2) Transfer of the registration record may be made throughout the year except during the 30 days immediately preceding any election, and if the voter shall remove from one precinct to another within the city the 30-day period, he or she shall for that election only, vote in the precinct from which he or she moved. If any voter shall move from one place to another within 30 days preceding any election, he or she shall be permitted to vote in that precinct, and the election commissioners upon request of the registrant shall make entry of such change of residence upon the voter’s registration record in accordance with procedures prescribed by the Secretary of State.
(e) At least three days prior to every city election the City Clerk shall procure from the municipal precinct file in the office of the Clerk of the County Commission the registration records necessary for the conduct of such election.
(1) Such records shall, within ten days after the date of the city election, be returned to the office of the Clerk of the County Commission by the City Clerk.
(2) In case of a contested election, the registration record of any challenged voter shall be made available by the Clerk of the County Commission to the Common Council upon its request. Such record shall be returned to the office of the Clerk of the County Commission within a reasonable time after the contest shall have been finally decided.
(f) Any person who possesses the qualifications for registration, but who is absent from the city and county on account of occupation, or for any other necessary cause, including service in the Armed Forces of the United States, may at any time register by mail according to the procedure prescribed by the Secretary of State.