West Virginia House passes bill changing deadline for absentee ballots

by Lori Kersey, West Virginia Watch
February 10, 2026

West Virginia delegates have passed a bill that would require that absentee ballots be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day in order to be counted.

The House passed House Bill 4600 with a vote of 79 to 17 and three members absent. 

Under current law, absentee ballots are counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and received before the canvass, when the votes are officially counted.

The Republican-led House on Monday voted down four amendments by Democrats Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia, and Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, that would have kept the current deadline for students studying outside their home counties, for sick and disabled people, for the elderly and for military members. 

Democrats who opposed the bill have pointed out that the United States Postal Service sometimes delivers mail late and that voters do not control when the mail is delivered. They argue that the bill is based on conspiracy theories about election fraud. 

“We’re not talking about fraudsters. We’re not talking about schemers. We’re talking about our neighbors,” Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, said in opposing the bill. “In particular, whom are we talking about? The elderly, the disabled and our military. Those are the individuals who request absentee ballots.

“We’re telling them that even though you made a good faith effort as a West Virginian, a good faith effort to make sure that you participate in our democracy, that you cast your ballot, that you had it postmarked, and that we the government, because the mail system does not run properly, we are no longer going to count your participation in our democracy.”

Republicans have said the bill is about election integrity.

Lead bill sponsor Rick Hillenbrand, R-Hampshire, said the legislation is partially driven by a December statement by the United States Postal Service that postmarks may not reflect the date that someone puts something in the mail. 

According to a Jan. 2 statement by USPS, a postmark is not meant to be a way of proving when mail was sent and does not necessarily indicate the first date the postal service took possession of the piece of mail. Senders can verify that the postmark matches when the postal service took possession by requesting a manual postmark, the statement says. 

Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, said he doesn’t understand what problem the bill is trying to solve. He said he isn’t aware of cases where an election winner has been announced and then the results changed after the counting of absentee ballots. 

“I think what we always try to do is err on the side of counting the votes,” Pushkin said “I said it yesterday, if we want to talk about personal responsibility, the only thing that’s in one’s own ability to change is when they actually mail it. We have no control, unfortunately, on when it actually arrives. So it only makes sense that it’s based on the postmark and not on the arrival date. That is beyond the voter’s control.”

Del. Daniel Linville, R-Cabell, brought up a 2010 case from Lincoln County where a candidate conspired with local officials to stuff the ballot box with absentee ballots. If candidates know on election day the number of votes cast they will know how many absentee ballots are needed to win, he said. 

“Its important that these are received by election might, not just postmarked,” Linville said. “Because you can alter a postmark.”

Del. Keith Marple, R-Harrison, spoke against the bill, calling it an affront to West Virginia voters. Often, elderly voters will request absentee ballots and wait until they’ve heard about both candidates before casting their ballots, he said. 

“I think that we’re doing an injustice to the citizens and the voters of West Virginia,” Marple said. “If they mail their ballot on Monday, get it postmarked at the post office, which you can do. They’ll do it by hand, and they find out that their vote is not counted because they didn’t receive it by the closing of the polls on election night.”

“I urge that you vote this bill down, you preserve the dignity of the elections in West Virginia, and you allow people who mail their ballots on the day before election and have it postmarked,” Marple said. 

The legislation, should it become law, comes as the Republican Party is set to close its May primary election to non-Republicans for the first time in decades. 

The bill will next go to the Senate for consideration. 

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