W.Va. Senate again passes citizen-only voting amendment

CHARLESTON – A resolution to ensure only United States citizens vote in West Virginia has passed the state Senate.

The Senate passed Senate Joint Resolution 9 by a 33-0 vote March 3. The measure now will be communicated to the House of Delegates, which had a similar resolution introduced at the start of the 2026 session only to languish in committee.

If the resolution ends up on the fall general election ballot for voters to decide, the House must pass the Senate version of the measure.

“The West Virginia Senate’s unanimous 33–0 passage of SJR9 makes one thing unmistakably clear: there is broad agreement that only U.S. citizens should vote in West Virginia elections,” said Charlie Kolean, state director of Americans for Citizen Voting. “As this resolution moves to the House, we call on Republican members to stand firmly for election integrity and ensure our Constitution clearly reflects this foundational principle.

“West Virginians expect clarity, and they expect leadership.”

Kolean said ACV urges House Speaker Roger Hanshaw (R-Clay) to move forward on the legislation.

“We urge the speaker to take up SJR9 immediately and allow the House to act without delay,” he said. “This is a straightforward, commonsense measure. The people of West Virginia deserve the opportunity to enshrine citizens-only voting in their Constitution.”

Citizen-only voting also is an issued strongly supported by the American Legislative Exchange Council, which is the nation’s largest nonpartisan, voluntary membership organization of state legislators dedicated to the principles of limited government, free markets and federalism. 

“We have a good history of getting our policies in the hands of West Virginia legislators, who have worked hard and gotten them passed,” ALEC Process & Procedures Task Force Director Katherine T. Bennett told The West Virginia Record. “Senator Patricia Rucker, in particular, who was ALEC national chair in 2025.”

The citizen-only voting amendment is part of ALEC’s 2026 Essential Policy Solution, which includes a section on “how to make elections safe, secure and as the Founding Fathers intended.”

Bennett said she hopes West Virginia joins more than 20 other states that have made similar moves.

“I can’t speak to what the internal politics are in the statehouse on that one, but a lot of states are adopting similar measures,” Bennett said, noting Arkansas, Kansas and South Carolina also are considering similar moves. “This is an issue that has growing momentum behind it. There is a lot of discussion behind midterm elections and making sure they’re safe and secure.

“In general, this isn’t a controversial issue with the American people. We already bar foreign nationals from contributing to political campaigns and funding different ballot measures. It makes sense that only West Virginians get to vote in West Virginia elections.

“This is not controversial, and it should not be a partisan issue. We support efforts like this to make sure all elections are safe and secure, especially this year with such an important midterm election.”

Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s office also is watching the resolutions.

“We continue to closely monitor the citizens-only voting legislation as it advances through the 2026 session,” Lars Dalseide, Morrisey’s communications director, told The Record. “Our team remains actively engaged in productive discussions with key legislative leaders. We look forward to its eventual passage to help safeguard election integrity for West Virginia voters.”

The resolutions would modify Section 1, Article IV of the West Virginia 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.

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.