House 5203

WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE

2026 REGULAR SESSION

Introduced

House Bill 5203

By Delegates Chiarelli, Crouse, McGeehan, Moore, Rohrbach, Phillips, Hornby, Butler, Holstein, Funkhouser, and Maynor

[Introduced February 05, 2026; referred to the Committee on the Judiciary]

A BILL to amend and reenact §3-1-2a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to forbidding a municipality from issuing an ID for the purposes of voting in a municipal election.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS.

§3-1-2a. Municipal elections.

(a) Notwithstanding other provisions of this code or of any special legislative or home rule city charter, the provisions of: (1) Articles eight and nine of this chapter; (2) Any rules promulgated under authority granted in articles eight and nine of this chapter; and (3) Any provisions of this chapter making a practice or conduct unlawful shall apply to every municipal election held for any purpose.

(b) For purposes of:

(1) This section;

(2) The application of articles eight and nine of this chapter;

(3) The application of the rules mentioned in this section; and

(4) The application of provisions of this chapter making a practice or conduct unlawful, the provisions of law which impose any duty upon or define any offense or prohibition with respect to the duty or authority of a county officer or county election officer or body of county election officers shall be construed to and shall apply with equal force and effect to the person or persons in a municipal election upon whom this code or the city charter or ordinance imposes such duty or vests the same or similar authority.

(c) Every municipality shall by charter or ordinance designate the persons in the municipality who perform the same duties as any officer in a county election. The designated persons shall attend a biannual election training held and conducted by the office of the Secretary of State.

(d) No municipality may, by ordinance, charter, or otherwise, authorize the use of a municipal identification card or any other locally issued identification as a valid form of voter identification if such document is not otherwise authorized by state law for use in a statewide election.

(d) (e) This section shall not be construed to abrogate the applicability of other provisions of this chapter to municipal elections.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to forbid any municipality from issuing an ID for the purposes of voting in a municipal election.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.