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CHARLESTON -- The COVID-19 pandemic has made it harder for older voters or voters with pre-existing medical condition to go to the polls, but new rules put in place prior to the June 9 primary still allow voters to request a mail-in absentee ballot for the Nov. 3 general election.
Secretary of State Mac Warner said the emergency rule put in place allowing all voters to request an absentee ballot citing COVID-19 as a valid medical excuse remains in effect, giving all registered voters another option to exercise their voting power.
Voters can request a mail-in absentee ballot three ways.
First, a voter can visit the offices of their local county clerk and fill out the absentee ballot request form. Second, a voter can go to GoVoteWV.com, the Secretary of State's webpage dedicated to the 2020 general election. Click on the red button marked "Absentee Voting" to review absentee voting information and download an absentee ballot application.
On the application under section 4, the voter must checkmark the box that says "Illness, injury or other medical reason which keeps me confined" as the excuse to receive the absentee ballot during the pandemic state of emergency. The voter can send the application to their county clerk by mail, fax, or email. Contact information for your local county clerk can be found at GoVoteWV.com.
Voters also have a third option to request an absentee ballot that doesn't involve printing, writing, mailing or faxing. The Secretary of State's Office introduced the online Absentee Application Portal. By going to GoVoteWV.com and clicking the "Request a 2020 General Election Absentee Ballot" button, a voter can answer some questions and request an absentee ballot.
Voter can also track their absentee ballot requests through the GoVoteWV.com website by clicking the "Track Your Absentee Ballot" button. County clerks started sending absentee ballots on Sept. 18. The time between successfully requesting an absentee ballot and a county clerk mailing out the absentee ballot should be between two and five days. Instructions for filling out the ballot can be found by clicking the red Absentee Voting button on GoVoteWV.com.
County clerks must have the absentee ballot application in hand by Monday, Oct. 28. The absentee ballot can either be hand-delivered to a county clerk by Monday, Nov. 2, or can be mailed in. Absentee ballots must be postmarked by election day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, to be counted as long as it arrives at the start of canvassing on Monday, Nov. 9.
According to the Secretary of State's Office, 79,140 absentee ballots have been requested out of 1.2 million registered voters in West Virginia since Aug. 11. Of that number, 36,258 application have been received through the online Absentee Application Portal.
The Secretary of State's Office and Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced March 20 the filing of an emergency rule allowing for the COVID-19 pandemic to be used by voters as an "other medical reason" excuse on the absentee ballot application as long as Gov. Jim Justice's state of emergency is ongoing. West Virginia has been under a state of emergency since March 16.
In the June 9 primary election, nearly half of the 450,909 ballots cast were absentee ballots, with 224,777 absentee ballots cast by voters. A total of 262,503 West Virginians out of 1.2 million registered voters requested absentee ballots.
Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com