Last summer, President Trump declared he would “lead a movement” to end vote-by-mail for everyone, and falsely claimed that the United States is “now the only Country in the World that uses Mail-In Voting.”
West Virginia has allowed some voters – like those with disabilities, those who are elderly, travel nurses, truck drivers, students studying abroad, and others – to vote by mail for decades. Nationally, about a quarter of votes are cast through the mail. The first uses of absentee ballots date back to the Civil War.
Voting by mail is safe, secure, and makes our democracy more accessible. And yet, President Trump and his admirers in the state Legislature are doing everything they can to chip away at this right and make it harder for tens of thousands of West Virginians to vote.
On Friday, a House of Delegates subcommittee advanced HB 4600, which shortens the amount of time absentee voters have to complete a ballot and mail it in. Right now, absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day are counted if received by the start of the Canvass, which takes place five days after the election. HB 4600 would change the law so that only absentee ballots received on Election Day would be counted.
With the U.S. Post Office experiencing historic delays and struggling to keep up with mail volume, this bill would add to uncertainty for many West Virginia voters about whether their votes will be counted.
Absentee voter fraud is extremely rare and has never altered the outcome of an election in West Virginia. Even according to the far-right Heritage Foundation, there have only been five credible cases regarding fraudulent use of absentee ballots in West Virginia since 2012.
So far, HB 4600 is the only anti-absentee ballot bill moving through the legislative process. But other bills targeting accessible voting have been introduced. They include:
• SB 61, which is designed to intimidate poll workers by imposing significant new criminal penalties for counting an absentee ballot that doesn’t meet legal requirements.
• HB 4447, which would make the simple act of sending someone an absentee ballot application a crime if the person didn’t request one.
Contact your delegate today to tell them to reject HB 4600 and other attempts to weaken voter accessibility.