Early Voting in West Virginia

Early in-person and absentee voting is available in West Virginia.

West Virginia is one of 31 states nationally to provide its residents an opportunity to vote early. You don't need a reason to vote early in person in West Virginia. All that's required is that you're a registered voter. States allow early voting as a way to increase voter turnout by making the voting process simpler and more convenient.
West Virginia is also one of 21 states that require you have a reason to vote early as an absentee by mail. There are a number of accepted reasons why a person may need to vote by absentee ballot.

Register to Vote

You must be a West Virginia resident to vote in the state. You must register to vote at least 21 days before Election Day, which is the official end date for the election cycle.
The West Virginia Secretary of State's Office provides a registration form that you can download, complete, and submit through regular mail to your county clerk's office. You're required by law to provide your place of residence on the application and cannot list a business address. The information must be updated when you move even if you relocated to another part of the state or another part of your town. By law, you must sign your legal name and provide your original signature in the appropriate box using an ink pen.

Absentee

If you're registered to vote, but need to vote by absentee ballot; you can obtain an application online from the Secretary of State's website. The application needs to be completed for each election that you need to vote by absentee. Applications must be received by your county clerk's office at least six days prior to Election Day to allow time for processing.

Time Period

The early voting period begins 20 days before each election and ends on the Saturday three days before Election Day. You can vote early any day during this time period that your designated county polling place is open.

Place

There's only one place per county to vote early in person.

In-Person Early Voting & Absentee

In-person early voting is done the same way voting takes place on Election Day. Nearly every West Virginia County uses touch-screen machines that create a voter-verified paper trail. Only two counties use regular paper ballots.
You must sign the poll book prior to voting to certify that you've voted, and to prevent people from voting more than once in the same election.
If you're using a paper ballot or voting by absentee, your completed ballot is put inside an envelope labeled with your precinct information, and then placed in the official ballot box. The ballot box is collected on the last day of early voting, and then sorted by precinct location. Your local precinct or county clerk's office processes and counts each vote cast on Election Day.

References

• Pewcenteronthestates.org: Early and Absentee Voting Laws
• Maine.gov: Summary of Early Voting Laws in Other States Prepared by the Office of the Secretary of State
• West Virginia Secretary of State's Office: Register to Vote
• Wired: Voting Machines Switch Voters; Officials Blame Voters--Update
• Reformelections.org: Issues-Early Voting

Resources

• West Virginia Secretary of State's Office: Absentee Voting Reasons
• West Virginia Secretary of State's Office: Early Voting Hours
• West Virginia Secretary of State's Office
• West Virginia Secretary of State's Office: County Clerks' Addresses
• West Virginia Secretary of State's Office: Absentee Application