2024 WEST VIRGINIA VOTER GUIDE
1.Voter Registration
Deadline to Register/Update: October 15, 2024
2. Check Your Registration
Why check your registration? Your address is where election officials send notices, application forms to receive your ballot in the mail, and more. Additionally, poll workers will check if the address on your voter registration matches the address on your ID at the polls.
Check/Update Your Registration Online
Update Your Registration Online
Checklist:
- Is your name spelled correctly? (Correct hyphenations, middle initials, etc)
- Correct Address
- Active Voter Status (if not update by sending in another online/mail voter application)
- Correct Date of Birth
- Correct Political Party Preference
- Take a time-stamped photograph or screenshot of your registration, and take it with you to the polls as proof of your registration.
3. Voter ID Law
Source: Ballotpedia
West Virginia requires voters to present identification while voting. The identification provided must be issued either by the State of West Virginia, or one of its subsidiaries, or by the United States government. It must also contain the name of the voter.
The following list of accepted ID was current as of May 2023:
- Valid West Virginia driver’s license or valid West Virginia identification card issued by the West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles
- Valid driver’s license issued by a state other than the State of West Virginia
- Valid United States passport or passport card
- Valid employee identification card with a photograph of the eligible voter issued by any branch, department, agency, or entity of the United States government or the State of West Virginia, or by any county, municipality, board, authority, or other political subdivision of West Virginia
- Valid student identification card with a photograph issued by an institution of higher education in West Virginia
- Valid high school identification card issued by a West Virginia high school
- Valid military identification card issued by the United States with a photograph of the person desiring to vote
- Valid concealed carry (pistol/revolver) permit issued by the sheriff of the county with a photograph of the person desiring to vote
- Valid Medicare card or Social Security card
- Valid birth certificate
- Valid voter registration card issued by a county clerk in the State of West Virginia
- Valid hunting or fishing license issued by the State of West Virginia
- Valid identification card issued to the voter by the West Virginia Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) program
- Valid identification card issued to the voter by the West Virginia Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program
- Valid identification card issued to the voter by West Virginia Medicaid
- Valid bank card or valid debit card
- Valid utility bill issued within six months of the date of the election
- Valid bank statement issued within six months of the date of the election
- Valid health insurance card issued to the voter
Additionally, a registered voter can bring an adult whom he or she has known for at least six months with them to the polling place. The adult can sign an affidavit stating that he or she knows the voter. The voter will then be allowed to vote. A voter can also be identified by a poll worker as long as he or she has known the voter for at least six months.
Voters can obtain a free voter ID card at their county clerk’s office.
Provisional Ballot Rules
Voters in West Virginia are given provisional ballots, or ballots requiring additional steps or information before they can be counted, under the following circumstances:
- If the voter’s “registration record is not available at the time of the election,” the voter has the right to cast a provisional ballot.
- If the voter’s signature does not match the signature on the voter’s registration, the voter has the right to cast a provisional ballot.
- If the voter’s registration record indicates the voter is in some way legally disqualified from voting, the voter has the right to cast a provisional ballot.
- If the voter is unable to provide proper identification, the voter has the right to cast a provisional ballot.
- If the voter’s “registration record indicates that either the voter voted during early voting or received an absentee ballot by mail,” the voter has the right to cast a provisional ballot.
- If the “voter, spouse or dependent, has been discharged from active duty in the Uniformed Service during the 60 days preceding the election and has cast an absentee ballot by mail,” the voter has the right to cast a provisional ballot.
- If, during a primary election, the voter asks to vote for a different party than he or she is registered as being a member of, the voter has the right to cast a provisional ballot.
- If the “[po]llworker believes voter is able to vote without assistance, but voter insists on receiving assistance,” the voter has the right to cast a provisional ballot.
- If the voter “is a pollworker registered in another precinct,” the voter has the right to cast a provisional ballot.
- If the voter “changed his/her address and voted in their new precinct,” the voter has the right to cast a provisional ballot.
Voters who cast a provisional ballot because they did not have the required identification with them on the day of the election may visit the county clerk’s office during business hours at any time before the official canvass to present their identification and ensure their ballot will be counted.[6]
Was your provisional ballot counted? Visit the office of the secretary of state’s Provisional Ballot Search tool to check the status of your provisional ballot.
4. Order Your Absentee Mail Ballot
Deadline to apply for Mail Ballot: Must be received by October 30, 2024
We recommend requesting your absentee mail ballot as soon as possible and well in advance of this deadline in order to ensure that you receive your ballot in time.
Apply for Absentee Mail Ballot Online
You may also hand deliver your mail ballot to the County Clerk’s office by the day before Election Day. Find a list of County Clerk offices here: https://sos.wv.gov/elections/Pages/CountyClerkDirectory.aspx
Deadline to return Mail Ballot: Must be postmarked by November 5, 2024 or returned in-person by November 4, 2024
5. Early Voting Information
Early voting is available from October 23 – November 2, 2024.
- Voters may vote early in person at the county courthouse, an annex or a designated community voting location during normal business hours. Early voting must be conducted between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on the last 2 Saturdays before the Primary Election.
- Contact your county clerk for early voting locations: https://sos.wv.gov/elections/Pages/CountyClerkDirectory.aspx
- For more information regarding federal, state and local elections contact your state election official online: https://sos.wv.gov/elections/ or call West Virginia Secretary of State, Mac Warner by email: Elections@wvsos.com or phone: toll free 866.767.8683.
6. Be A Poll Worker
- Become a poll worker!
- Poll workers must be 16 years old or over, and a registered voter (if over 18) in their county
To sign up, visit: https://apps.sos.wv.gov/elections/PollWorkers/Register