HB 4600 West Virginia House of Delegates · 2026 Regular Session

Require all ballots for primary and general elections be received not later than the close of the polls on election day.

HB 4600 requires that all absentee ballots for primary and general elections must be received by 8:00 p.m. on election day to be counted. This applies to voters who request absentee ballots by mail or electronically. The bill amends West Virginia law to establish a clear deadline for ballot receipt, ensuring all absentee ballots are processed by the same time as in-person voting. It directly affects voters who choose to mail in their ballots, requiring timely delivery to meet the election day cutoff.
Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2026
Committee Review
Feb 2026
House of Delegates Passage
Feb 2026
Senate Passage
Governor
Introduced Jan 20, 2026 Last action Feb 11, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

Committee Substitute Engrossed Committee Substitute · 2 edits · Feb 10, 2026
MINOR
This bill updates the official title of the legislation to reflect its current status as an 'Engrossed Committee Substitute' and clarifies the reporting date with a period. It also corrects a formatting error in the text regarding the deadline for counting absentee ballots, ensuring the requirement for an 8:00 p.m. deadline is clearly linked to the ballot's receipt time without creating a confusing sentence structure.
TECHNICAL

Corrected a sentence structure in the absentee ballot counting rules to clearly state that ballots must be received by the official by 8:00 p.m. on election day to be counted, removing a confusing clause about the return envelope.

Updated the document header to show the bill is now an 'Engrossed Committee Substitute' and added a period to the reporting date.

Floor votes · House of Delegates Feb 10, 2026

How they voted

7917
Passed · 3 other
Total votes 99
Feb 10, 2026
D Democratic9
9 Nay
100% Nay
R Republican90
79 Yea 8 Nay 3
87% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
21
Key actions
2
Committee
6
Amendments
2
Feb 11, 2026
Committee
To Judiciary
upper
Feb 11, 2026
Introduced
Introduced in Senate
upper
Feb 10, 2026
Lower · Passed
Passed House (Roll No. 66)
lower
Feb 9, 2026
Amended
Amendment rejected (Voice vote)
lower
Feb 9, 2026
Introduced
Amendment reported by the Clerk
lower
Feb 5, 2026
Lower · Passed
By substitute, do pass
lower
Feb 2, 2026
Committee
To House Judiciary
lower
Jan 30, 2026
Committee
To House Legal Services
lower
Jan 20, 2026
Committee
To House Judiciary
lower
Jan 20, 2026
Introduced
Introduced in House
lower
Jan 20, 2026
Committee
To Judiciary
lower
1 primary · 7 co-sponsors

Sponsors