Vote in
West Virginia
Pick a different stateRegister by October 13
The deadline has passed. Ask West Virginia what you can still do.
Facts · Read Oct 26Check you are registered. If you are not, do it now.
Go to West Virginia registration →Vote early October 21 to October 31
Open now
1 day left.
Wednesday, October 21 through Saturday, October 31, 2026, at the county courthouse, a courthouse annex, or a designated community voting location during regular business hours, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the last two Saturdays. Locations are posted at GoVoteWV before early voting starts.
Pick your day
Early voting is the real date. Same ballot, shorter line, and if something is wrong with your registration you still have days to fix it.
Facts · Read Oct 26Election Day, November 3. Last resort.
Where to vote
Find your polling placeOn Election Day you must vote at your assigned polling place.Read October 26, 2026 from West Virginia Secretary of State.
Registered at home but living somewhere else?What West Virginia says to do when the address you are registered at is not the address you live at.
We have not confirmed West Virginia’s rule for this from an official source yet, so we are not printing one. Check which address you are registered at, then ask that county election office what to do.
All the datesRegistering online, by mail and in person, checking your registration, your polling place, and when polls close in West Virginia.
Register by
Tuesday, October 13, 2026, for every way of registering. West Virginia has no same-day registration.
Facts · Read Oct 26Register online
By 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, at the state's Online Voter Registration site. You need a driver's license or other ID issued by the DMV to register online.
Facts · Read Oct 26Register by mail
Address it to your County Clerk. It must be postmarked no later than Tuesday, October 13, 2026.
Facts · Read Oct 26Register in person
At your County Clerk's office, or a DMV office or other designated agency, by the close of registration on Tuesday, October 13, 2026.
Facts · Read Oct 26Check you are registered
The state lists this as Check Your Voter Registration Record on GoVoteWV.
Facts · Read Oct 26Early, in person
Wednesday, October 21 through Saturday, October 31, 2026, at the county courthouse, a courthouse annex, or a designated community voting location during regular business hours, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the last two Saturdays. Locations are posted at GoVoteWV before early voting starts.
Facts · Read Oct 26Find your polling place
On Election Day you must vote at your assigned polling place.
Facts · Read Oct 26What to bringThe ID West Virginia accepts, and what to do if you do not have one.
ID your state accepts
- West Virginia driver's license or state-issued ID
- Driver's license from another state
- U.S. passport or passport card
- Employee ID with photo issued by local, state, or federal government
- Student ID with photo from a WV institution of higher education or a WV high school
- U.S. military ID with photo
- Voter registration card with photo issued by a WV county clerk or the WV Secretary of State
- An ID issued by the DMV without a photo for voters who swear and affirm that they belong to recognized religious communities that prohibit them from being photographed
Photo ID is required at the polls during early voting and on Election Day, and it must not be expired. If you are 65 or older, an expired ID still counts if it had not expired on your 65th birthday. The rule does not apply to absentee by mail voters.
Facts · Read Oct 26If you do not have one
Exceptions: an adult who has known you for at least six months and shows a valid photo ID signs an affidavit, or a poll worker has known you for at least six months, or you live in a state care facility that is your polling place.
Facts · Read Oct 26Carry a second document
- Valid Photo Identification
- Utility Bill
- Bank Statement
- Government Check
- Paycheck
- Any Other Official Government Document
For first-time voters who did not give ID when registering. The document must show your current name and address.
Facts · Read Oct 26Make the plan
Three taps. No account. It stays on this phone.
Roll Call
Lock your date, bring your people, and see how your side is doing.
Who runs your election
The West Virginia Secretary of State administers elections in West Virginia. Your county or parish election office runs the polling places, counts the ballots, and answers questions about your own ballot. They are the people to call, and the ones whose answer is final.
Statewide offices are the ones every voter in West Virginia votes on, and every ballot counts the same from any precinct in the state. District seats are drawn on a map, so where you live decides which of those you vote on.
Some years a ballot also asks voters to change the rules of voting itself. Those questions tend to cover:
- what counts as ID at the polls or with a mail ballot
- how early voting and mail voting work, and by when
- how districts get drawn and who draws them
- how the election office itself is run and funded
We do not tell you what is on your ballot or what to make of it. Your sample ballot carries the official wording, written by the state. Read it at the West Virginia Secretary of State.
Mail, honestlyVoting by mail works. It also has rules, and the rules are where ballots get lost.
Your dates are above: when to ask for the ballot, when it has to be back, what happens if a signature is questioned.
- Sign exactly the way you signed when you registered.
- Send it back early, not on the last day.
- Would rather not trust the mail? Check the early in-person window above and go in person.
Ask for your ballot by
Your County Clerk must receive the application by Wednesday, October 28, 2026, by fax, mail, email, or hand delivery. West Virginia absentee voting by mail is for certain voters who meet the state's eligibility requirements.
Facts · Read Oct 26It has to be back by
Mailed ballots must be postmarked by Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, 2026, and reach your County Clerk before the canvass starts (the state's calendar prints November 9, 2026). A ballot you hand-deliver must reach the County Clerk by Monday, November 2, the day before Election Day.
Facts · Read Oct 26If your signature is questioned
Checking. We have not found the Secretary of State saying how a voter fixes a problem with a mailed absentee ballot, so we print nothing yet. Ask your state election office.
The lineIf the line is long, that is not a reason to leave. It is a reason to stay.
Bring water. Bring a charger. Bring a chair if you can carry one, a book, and a friend. Check your bag rules with your county first. If you are in line when the polls close, stay in line: your state decides what happens next, and every state page here prints its own rule in its own words.
- Water
- A charger
- A chair if you can
- Something to read
- A friend
If you are in line when polls close in West Virginia
From the Secretary of State's Manual for Election Officials, revised September 14, 2026. Election commissioners give each waiting voter a waiting-voters permit.
Facts · Read Oct 26Time off to vote
Checking. We have not found the Secretary of State stating West Virginia's rule on time off to vote on a voter page, so we print nothing yet. Ask your state election office.
Your rightsA provisional ballot, help if you need it, and the number to call from the line.
You can vote a provisional ballot
If your name is not on the list, or you do not have what they ask for, ask for a provisional ballot. In a federal election you have the right to cast one. Ask what you must do afterwards for it to count, and write it down.
You can bring someone to help
You can bring a person of your choice to help you vote, with limits your state sets on who it cannot be. Ask the poll worker for the rule in writing.
Language and disability assistance
Polling places must be accessible, and many places must provide help in other languages. Ask for the accessible machine, the curbside option, or the language help you need.
If someone tries to move you off your vote
Questions about your citizenship, a crowd following you in, someone filming you at the door, a person telling you that you cannot vote: none of that decides your vote. Do not leave the line. Call the hotline from where you stand.
Sources: the West Virginia Secretary of State, and the Election Protection coalition for the hotlines below.
Call from the line
If anyone tells you that you cannot vote, or you are turned away, or something feels wrong: do not leave. Call.
- 866-OUR-VOTE866-687-8683 · English
- 888-VE-Y-VOTA888-839-8682 · Spanish and English
- 888-API-VOTE888-274-8683 · Asian languages and English
- 844-YALLA-US844-925-5287 · Arabic and English
Election Protection, administered by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Numbers confirmed against their own site on September 19, 2026.
Your state election office is the final word. We print what its own pages say, with the date we read them.
Read on October 26, 2026 from your state election office, checked by AI against the West Virginia Secretary of State pages. West Virginia Secretary of State is the final word. See something wrong? Report it.