CHARLESTON – The House Judiciary Committee has pass a resolution that would ensure only United States citizens can vote in West Virginia elections.
During a March 11 meeting, the committee passed Senate Joint Resolution 9 on a voice vote. That sends the resolution to the full House of Delegates just days before the 60-day legislative session ends March 14.
But the judiciary committee slightly amended the resolution, meaning it would have to be returned to the Senate for approval upon passage of the full House.
Judiciary Vice Chairman Jordan Maynor (R-Raleigh) offered the amendment to further clarify who can and can’t vote in West Virginia elections.
“The amendment, as rewritten, provides that only citizens of the United States who are citizens of this state shall be entitled to vote at all elections held within the counties in which they respectively reside,” Maynor said, reading the amendment. “But a person who is a minor, or who has been declared mentally incompetent by a court of jurisdiction, or who is under conviction of treason, felony or bribery in an election, or who has not been a resident of the state and the county in which he or she offers the vote for 30 days next proceeding such offer shall not be permitted to vote while such disability continues.
“And a person in the military, Navy or Marine service of the United States shall not be deemed a resident of this state by reason of being stationed herein.”
Delegate Evan Hansen (D-Monongalia) asked if amended resolution changes anything.
“Just trying to understand the difference … does this still do nothing?” Hansen asked, referring to some critics who say the resolution isn’t needed because all West Virginia citizens are United States citizens.
“The effect is the same as we discussed yesterday,” Maynor said. “It is currently law that a citizen of West Virginia is axiomatically a citizen of the United States. It is not changing that fact.”
The Senate passed SJR 9 by a 33-0 vote March 3. The House of Delegates had a similar resolution introduced at the start of the 2026 session only to languish in committee.
If passed, the resolution would put the issue before voters in the form of a Constitutional amendment.
House Joint Resolution 18 and SJR 9 both were introduced in January in the West Virginia Legislature, and both were sent to their respective Judiciary Committees. Both had languished until the Senate version gained traction a few weeks ago.
As with previous versions, this year’s resolutions would modify Section 1, Article IV of the state Constitution to prohibit persons not United States citizens from voting in any election held within the state. The resolution needs to be adopted by both houses by a two-thirds vote to be put before voters in this fall’s general election.
During the 2024 session, a similar resolution passed the House on a 96-0 vote and the Senate on a 32-0 vote. But the House measure died on the final night of the session because of a technical glitch in the Legislature’s bill tracking system that temporarily showed the measure as being completed.
By the time the problem was realized, it was too late for it and a host of other measures to be taken across the finish line because of a Democratic filibuster.
In last year’s session, the Senate resolution passed by a 34-0 vote before being sent to the House of Delegates’ Judiciary Committee, where it sat until the end of the session.
“Today’s action by the House Judiciary Committee is an important step toward protecting the integrity of our elections,” said Charlie Kolean, state director of Americans for Citizen Voting. “West Virginians — like citizens across the country — overwhelmingly support the principle that only American citizens should be voting in American elections.
“West Virginia has an opportunity to join the growing number of states taking commonsense steps to safeguard the ballot. It's time for the House to pass this resolution.”
In recent years, ACV has worked to have similar measures adopted in states. Texas voters approved a similar measure in November. And in 2024, eight states (Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Wisconsin) passed laws to keep non-citizens from voting.
Including Texas, 21 states now have laws ensuring only American citizens can vote in those states, and several other states are actively considering such legislation.
Legislatures in Arkansas, Kansas and South Dakota already have placed amendments on the 2026 ballot. And in addition to West Virginia, efforts to place citizen only voting measures on the 2026 ballot are taking place in Alaska, Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire and Tennessee.
