West Virginia House Judiciary Committee moves deadline to receipt of absentee ballots to Election Day

CHARLESTON – West Virginia law allows a buffer for county election officials to receive absentee ballots through the mail in time for canvassing and counting. But a new law being considered would move that deadline to Election Day, raising concerns about disenfranchising rural and older voters.

The House Judiciary Committee spent Tuesday and Wednesday considering House Bill 4600, requiring all ballots for primary and general elections to be received no later than the close of polls on Election Day. The committee recommended the bill for passage to the full House of Delegates Wednesday morning.

HB 4600 would require that any absentee ballot returned to a local county clerk via the U.S. mail or express shipping must be received by the county clerk’s office by 8 p.m. on the day of the primary or general election. It would apply to standard absentee ballots, military and overseas voters, and ballots submitted electronically.

“Essentially what it does is it syncs up the close of Election Day or the close of polls on Election Day as the time that the ballots have to be received,” explained one of the bill’s co-sponsors, Del. Joshua Holstein, R-Boone. “The effect of that is it eliminates the current postmark time in state code.”



https://www.newsandsentinel.com/news/local-news/2026/02/west-virginia-house-judiciary-committee-moves-deadline-to-receipt-of-absentee-ballots-to-election-day/