WEST virginia legislature
2026 regular session
Enrolled
Committee Substitute
for
Senate Joint Resolution 9
By Senators Rucker, Rose, Thorne, Grady, Hart, Chapman, Smith (Mr. President), Roberts, Tarr, Taylor, Clements, Barnhart, and M. Maynard
[Adopted March 14, 2026]
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia, amending section one, article IV thereof, relating to the right to vote in elections held in West Virginia; numbering and designating such proposed amendment; and providing a summarized statement of the purpose of such proposed amendment.
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia, two thirds of the members elected to each house agreeing thereto:
That the question of ratification or rejection of an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia be submitted to the voters of the state at the next general election to be held in the year 2026, which proposed amendment is that section one, article IV thereof, be amended to read as follows:
ARTICLE IV. Elections and Officers.
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; but a person who is a minor, or who has been declared mentally incompetent by a court of competent 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 of the county in which he or she offers to vote, for 30 days next preceding such offer, shall not be permitted to vote while such disability continues; and, a person in the military, naval, or marine service of the United States shall not be deemed a resident of this state by reason of being stationed therein.
Resolved further, That in accordance with the provisions of article eleven, chapter three of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, such amendment is hereby numbered "Amendment 1" and designated as the "Citizenship Requirement to Vote in West Virginia Elections Amendment" and the purpose of the proposed amendment is summarized as follows: "This amendment provides that in all elections held in West Virginia only citizens of the United States who are citizens of this state are qualified to vote."
The Clerk of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Delegates hereby certify that the foregoing bill is correctly enrolled.
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Clerk of the Senate
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Clerk of the House of Delegates
Originated in the Senate.
Adopted March 14, 2026.
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President of the Senate
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Speaker of the House of Delegates
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The within is ................................................ this the...........................................
Day of ..........................................................................................................., 2026.
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Governor