To forbid any municipality from issuing an ID for the purpose of voting in a municipal election
HB 5203 prohibits West Virginia municipalities from issuing any local identification card specifically for voting in municipal elections. It requires that any identification used for voting must already be authorized by state law for statewide elections, preventing cities from creating their own voting IDs. The bill directly affects local governments that might have considered adopting unique municipal ID systems for election purposes. This ensures municipal elections follow the same voter ID standards as state elections, without creating additional local requirements.
Bill status
passed
3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2026
Committee Review
Mar 2026
House of Delegates Passage
Feb 2026
Senate Passage
Governor
Introduced Feb 5, 2026
Last action Mar 4, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison
What changed between versions
Introduced Version
→
Engrossed Version
·
1 edit
·
Feb 23, 2026
MINOR
The bill text was reorganized to swap the order of the 'Introduced Version' and 'Engrossed Version' links, while the substantive legal text of the bill itself remains unchanged. No new policy, funding, or eligibility criteria were added or removed in this revision.
TECHNICAL
The order of the 'Introduced Version' and 'Engrossed Version' links in the header was swapped, and the 'Introduced' label in the session header was changed to 'ENGROSSED'.
Floor votes · House of Delegates Feb 23, 2026
How they voted
84–10
Passed · 6 other
Total votes 100
Feb 23, 2026
D
Democratic9
88% Nay
R
Republican91
92% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea
All Nay
Mixed
No data
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
22
Key actions
3
Committee
9
Mar 4, 2026
Committee
To Judiciary
upper
Mar 4, 2026
Upper · Passed
Reported do pass, with amendment, but first to Judiciary
upper
Feb 24, 2026
Committee
To Government Organization
upper
Feb 24, 2026
Committee
To Government Organization then Judiciary
upper
Feb 24, 2026
Introduced
Introduced in Senate
upper
Feb 23, 2026
Lower · Passed
Passed House (Roll No. 166)
lower
Feb 18, 2026
Lower · Passed
Do pass
lower
Feb 13, 2026
Committee
To House Judiciary
lower
Feb 12, 2026
Committee
To House Legal Services
lower
Feb 5, 2026
Committee
To House Judiciary
lower
Feb 5, 2026
Introduced
Introduced in House
lower
Feb 5, 2026
Committee
To Judiciary
lower
1 primary · 10 co-sponsors
Sponsors
Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Geno Chiarelli
RRepublican
Co
Chris Phillips
RRepublican
Co
Erica Moore
RRepublican
Co
Jim Butler
RRepublican
Co
Joe Funkhouser
RRepublican
Co
Jordan Maynor
RRepublican
Co
Josh Holstein
RRepublican
Co
Kathie Hess Crouse
RRepublican
Co
Matthew Rohrbach
RRepublican
Co
Mike Hornby
RRepublican
Co
Pat McGeehan
RRepublican
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