2024 General Election: Important Return Dates
In West Virginia, completed mail-in ballots must be postmarked by November 5th. For in-person delivery, ballots must be submitted to your County Clerk's office by November 4th.
Absentee voting is available if you meet any of the criteria below. The last day to request an absentee ballot is 6 days before the election. Voted ballots must be postmarked by Election Day and received no later than 5 days after Election Day in order to be counted. You can return your absentee ballot request form through the mail, in person, or scanned as an attachment to an email. Just be sure to include your proof of ID no matter how you return the request form. You can sign up to track your absentee ballot on your Secretary of State website. Absentee ballots begin being counted on Election Day. For more information contact your local election officials.
Requesting and Returning your Absentee Ballot
You may submit an absentee ballot application beginning 84 days before the General Election if you meet any of the following criteria:
To download the absentee ballot application, use your state's resource.
Your request for an absentee ballot must be received no later than the 6th day before the election. Unless you are voting absentee by mail because of illness or disability, the ballot must be mailed to an out-of-county address. You may apply as early as eighty-four days before the election, but the ballots are not ready for mailing to you until six weeks before the election.
Mailed ballots must be postmarked by Election Day and received no later than five days after Election Day in order to be counted. You can hand-deliver your ballot, but those must be received no later than the day before Election Day. You can track your ballot to see where it is in the process.
Voting in Person if Absentee Ballot was Requested
Those who requested an absentee ballot but end up voting in person: Voters must surrender their absentee ballots before receiving a regular ballot, otherwise they must vote by a provisional ballot. Do not mail a ballot and vote in person. For specifics, you can find your local county clerk contact info here.
Permanent Absentee Voting
If you are a participant in the West Virginia Secretary of State's Address Confidentiality Program or you have a permanent, physical disability that prevents you from going to a polling place, you can apply for permanent absentee voting.
Emergency Absentee Voting
If you're in a hospital or other health care facility on Election Day or are a poll worker appointed to a precinct other than your own after Early Voting you can apply for emergency absentee voting. Some counties allow for emergency absentee voting in other situations, so be sure to check with your County Clerk for more information.
Request your BallotWest Virginia does not have an absentee/mail ballot curing process. We recommend that you track the status of your ballot using your state’s online tool before Election Day to make sure it has been received and accepted. For provisional ballots, the canvassing board will review the information associated with your provisional ballot and will determine whether your vote can be counted during the regular canvassing period, 5 days after the election. To check on the status of your provisional ballot, please use your state’s online tool.
For information on federal campaign contributions, please visit Open Secrets.
For information on state campaign contributions, please visit your state's resource.
Information on local, state and federal candidates and ballot measures may be available here.
No drop boxes available. The voter may vote and return the ballot to the County Clerk in the appropriate envelopes as soon as possible (or by hand delivery at the Clerk’s office).
The County Clerk is responsible for early voting. The locations will be in the County Courthouse, annex or on the property of the courthouse. The regular period of early voting begins 13 days before the election and ends 3 days before the election. Voting is available during regular business hours and on any Saturday on or between the 13th and 3rd days before the election.
Contact your county clerk for more information on times and locations.
The next election dates can be found here https://www.vote411.org/west-virginia.
Contact your local Board of Elections for information about local elections.
To be eligible to vote you must be:
Incarcerated Voters & Returning Citizens:
In West Virginia, you lose your voting rights if you are convicted of a felony, an election offense, or treason. You can register to vote once you have completed your sentence, including probation, or parole. Pretrial detention and misdemeanor convictions that didn’t involve an election or voting do not restrict your voting rights.
Voters without traditional residence:
It is not mandatory for citizens to possess a "permanent home" for voter registration. A citizen can provide an alternative description of their residence, even if they are experiencing homelessness, as long as it enables the authorities to identify and assign a voting precinct to them. This precinct assignment ensures that the voter receives the appropriate ballot. The mailing address on their registration form can be a P.O. box, local shelter, advocacy organization, outreach center, or the home of someone who will accept mail for them.
If you register in person, you must bring proof of physical address. If you are registering by mail, fill out the application and remember to submit a copy of a current and valid ID or bring proof of identification with you to the polls.
Examples of a physical address include:
Valid proof of ID include:
If you are registering online you must provide your name (as it appears on your WV ID or drivers license), your birthday, your WV ID or drivers license number and the last four digits of your Social Security Number. If you do not have a WV ID number or Social Security Number, you can still fill out the rest of the form online, print, and submit to your County Clerk by mail or in person.
First time West Virginia voters who have registered by mail and did not provide verification with application must show identification at the polls.
All West Virginia voters must show an approved form of identification at the polls during early voting or on election day. All forms of ID must be valid and not expired.
A list of acceptable ID's include:
Voters can call or text 844-338-8743 at any time to reach VoteRiders Voter ID Helpline
Official results are never available on Election Day. Election officials are working around the clock to count an unprecedented number of ballots, and it’s essential that they take the time to make sure every vote is counted.
Absentee ballots begin being counted on Election Day. Provisional ballots are counted 5 days after the election.
For Presidential elections, local results will be certified no later than 30 days after Election Day.
Official election results will be uploaded on West Virginia’s Secretary of State website, within 30 days after Election Day.
Official ResultsYou are a Military or Overseas voter if you are in uniformed services, living overseas OR a spouse or dependent of a uniformed services voter. To get registered and vote, you can utilize Overseas Vote Foundation.
If you have additional questions about elections and voting overseas you can use our state specific elections official directory or contact the Overseas Vote Foundation.
You can make sure we have safe, fair, and efficient elections for all. Become a poll worker today!
In order to be a poll worker in West Virginia, you must:
You will be entitled to compensation
To sign up, contact your local board of elections.
The polling place will be open from 6:30 am to 7:30 pm.
You can find your polling place by utilizing your state resource.
If you have further questions on your polling place location, please contact your county clerk.
West Virginia has a hybrid primary system. If you are registered to with a particular party, you must vote in that parties primary. However, if you are unaffiliated with any political party, you can choose which party’s primary you wish to vote in.
If you have any questions about your state’s primary election, please contact your local election officials.
If there is a question about your eligibility to vote in an election, you may vote a provisional ballot.
You might vote a provisional ballot if:
The canvassing board will review the information associated with the ballot and will determine whether or not your vote can be counted. Provisional ballots are counted 5 days after the election. To check on the status of your provisional ballot, please use your state's tool.
If your health or disability does not permit you to go to the polls, you may get a mail in ballot. Be sure to apply early enough so that your application reaches the clerk at least six days before the election. If you are permanently unable to go to the polls, you may apply to be placed on the permanent absentee voting list to vote by mail. A doctor's statement must be filed with your application, but once approved, the clerk will automatically send you an absentee ballot before each election.
If you vote at the polls and need assistance, you may choose a person to assist you, or two poll workers of opposing political parties may read the ballot to you or help you mark your ballot (only poll workers may mark your ballot). If you need them in order to vote, you may use braille navigation, audio reading of the ballot or touch screen interfaces to help you cast you ballot.
If you are unable to enter the polling location, curbside voting is available, or you may request a precinct change. Please contact your County Clerk for more information.
You can also utilize the American Association of People With Disabilities (AAPD) resource.
Not registered? Use our registration tool to fill out your application!
The registration deadline is 21 days before the election. You can now register to vote online! Fill out the forms found here to submit your registration application.
For more information contact your local board of elections.
Private and public employers must give employees paid time off to vote, unless the employee has 3 hours nonworking time available to vote or the employee fails to vote.
To verify your voter registration
click here!The voting systems used in West Virginia are Optical Scan, AutoMARK, Paper Ballots and DRE.
Optical Scan: An optical scan ballot is a specially designed paper ballot which is marked by the voter with a special pencil, then tallied by a computer reader. The layout is very similar to the standardized tests given in school, the voter darkens an oval next to a candidate's name in order to enter a vote.
AutoMARK:This voting system actually uses the Optical Scan ballot. The voter inserts the ballot into the machine and uses the AutoMARK touch screen to make his/her choices; when the voter is finished, the unit then marks the ballot for the voter and the voter retrieves his/her ballot and places it in a ballot box.
Paper Ballots: Paper Ballots are still marked with an x to select the preferred candidate and then counted at the polling place by a team of five election officials called a Counting Board.
Direct Recording Electronic (DRE): This is the newest kind of system in use in the U.S. All the information about who and what you are voting for is on an electronic screen like a TV or computer screen.
There are many variations of DREs because lots of companies are inventing new ones, and many cities, counties and states are trying them out. Usually, after you have signed in, the poll workers will give you a card that you slide into a device to start your voting session.
Some of these devices will show all of the candidates and ballot choices on one big screen. Often, with these big screen devices you push a button next to the name of the candidate you want to vote for (or yes or no on a ballot measure). On other DREs, the screen is set up to show pages. On each screen or page, there will probably be one thing to vote on. For example, on one screen or page, you might vote for president. Then you might move to the next page to vote for senator. Often these small-screen devices have a touch screen, where you touch the screen next to the name of the person you want to vote for. Other devices have a key pad. And some have a keyboard, so you can write in the name of someone you want to vote for. You let the system know you are finished voting by pushing a button, touching the screen or entering something on a keypad.
You can learn more about voting systems by checking out the Elections Assistance Commission's (EAC) resource.
Secretary of State
State Capitol, Bldg 1, Suite 157-K
1900 Kanawha Blvd East
Charleston 25305
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