CHARLESTON, W.Va. — More than 130,000 West Virginia voters will soon be getting a postcard from the Secretary of State’s office.
“These postcards are nothing more than a request for you to update your address,” said Donald Kersey, Director of the Elections Division and Deputy Legal Counsel for the Secretary of State.
The mailings are largely routine to bring voter registration information up to date in West Virginia. West Virginia, as a member of a national network, receives notice from other states when it appears somebody may have moved and failed to transfer their registration information to their new home. The mailing is an effort to help county clerks update the voter rolls.
“If you have moved, confirm it and sign the card and we’ll take appropriate action,” Kersey said. “These post cards will not result in the immediate cancellation of any registration, with the one exception if the voter checks the box that requests cancellation of their registration since they moved out of state.”
The cards will be directed to voters who have relocated from the voting precinct where they originally registered.
“What we’re doing is making sure our voter rolls are as accurate as possible,” Kersey explained. “So on Election Day when the poll clerk checks the poll books, they’ll know the person is eligible to vote and can feel confident that person should be eligible to vote.”