The West Virginia Legislature adjourned its 2026 regular session on April 12 after enacting 10 election-related bills, all of which were signed by Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R). 

Legislators also adopted one resolution, SJR 9, which proposes an amendment to the West Virginia Constitution stating that "Only citizens of the United States who are citizens of this state" may vote in elections for state or local office. Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting in any federal election.

Currently, West Virginia is one of 32 states that do not explicitly prohibit noncitizen voting in their state constitutions. The constitutional amendment will be submitted to voters in the November 2026 election. Four other states — Alaska, Arkansas, Kansas, and South Dakota — will also vote on similar ballot measures in 2026.

The amendment was adopted by the state House of Delegates on a 97-0 vote on March 13, and the state Senate passed it unanimously the following day.

Lawmakers also enacted a second bill related to voter eligibility. SB 59 requires that voters be legal residents of the state and the municipality where they wish to vote. The bill defines a legal resident as "a person who is domiciled in the state, county, or municipality in which he or she offers to vote and includes both physical presence within the state, county, or municipality and an intent to remain in the state, county, or municipality indefinitely."

Other election-related bills enacted in 2026 include:

• HB 4865, which allows student election official trainees to be appointed as election officials.
• HB 5401, which allows U.S. citizens temporarily residing abroad to vote an electronic absentee ballot.
• SB 640, which requires campaign finance statements in municipal, county, or non-statewide elections to be filed with the secretary of state’s office and prohibits the disclosure of certain donor information on a campaign finance statement.
• SB 643, which repeals the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals Public Campaign Financing Program.

The state House also approved HB 4600, which would require absentee ballots to be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day, rather than the fifth day after the election, excluding Sunday. The bill died, however, after it was not considered by the state Senate. West Virginia is one of 14 states that allow absentee/mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they arrive within a set post-election window.

West Virginia enacted eight election-related bills in 2025, 12 in 2024, and three in 2023. Legislators introduced 148 election bills in 2026, 32 more than in 2025.