WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE
2024 REGULAR SESSION
Introduced House Bill 4004
By Delegate Heckert, Lewis, Hansen and Hamilton [Introduced February 13, 2024; Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary]
 Intr HB 2024R3795
1 A BILL to amend and reenact §3-3-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to
2 formerly incarcerated individuals' voting rights; and eliminating restrictions to voting rights
3 following an individual's release from incarceration through pardon, probation, parole, or
4 completion of sentence.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 2. REGISTRATION OF VOTERS.
§3-2-2. Eligibility to register to vote.
1 (a) Any person who possesses the constitutional qualifications for voting may register to
2 vote. To be qualified, a person must be a citizen of the United States and a legal resident of West
3 Virginia and of the county where he or she is applying to register, shall be at least eighteen years of
4 age, except that a person who is at least seventeen years of age and who will be eighteen years of
5 age by the time of the next ensuing general election may also be permitted to register, and shall
6 not be otherwise legally disqualified: Provided, That a registered voter who has not reached
7 eighteen years of age may vote both partisan and nonpartisan ballots in a federal, state, county,
8 municipal or special primary election if he or she will be eighteen years of age by the time of the
9 corresponding general election.
10 (b) Any person who has been convicted of a felony, treason or bribery in an election, under
11 either state or federal law, is disqualified and is not eligible to register or to continue to be
12 registered to vote while serving his or her sentence, including any period of incarceration.
13 probation or parole related thereto. Upon release from incarceration for a felony conviction either
14 through pardon, parole, probation, or completion of sentence, a person shall be eligible to register
15 to vote and to vote. Any person who has been declared mentally incompetent by a court of
16 competent jurisdiction is disqualified and shall not be eligible to register or to continue to be
17 registered to vote for as long as that disability continues.
1
Intr HB 2024R3795
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to eliminate restrictions to voting rights following an
individual's release from incarceration through pardon, probation, parole, or completion of
sentence.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.
2


Statutes affected:
Introduced Version: 3-3-2