CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Tuesday will be the first election in West Virginia where voters have been required to show a photo identification before they can access a ballot. Many voters have remarked they thought this had been a requirement for a while. Not necessarily.
The state’s first voter I-D law was passed during the 2016 Legislative session and was signed into law by then Governor Earl Ray Tomblin. It was one of those classic bills which got a lot of fanfare and finally passed in the final hours on the last night of the session. The measure allowed a fairly wide number of things people could use to prove their identity, among them:
– Voter registration card
– Medicare card or Social Security card
– Birth certificate
– West Virginia hunting or fishing license
– West Virginia SNAP ID card
– West Virginia TANF program ID card
– West Virginia Medicaid ID card
– Bank or debit card
– Utility bill or bank statement issued within six months of the date of the election
– Health insurance card issued to the voter
It was first required during the 2018 Primary Election in West Virginia. However, none of those listed forms of identification carry a picture. During the 2025 Legislative Session lawmakers acted again and narrowed the list down to photo-ID only. This year will be the first election a photo ID will be required at your polling place. Some, like Cal Carlson, Monongalia County Democrat Executive Committee Chairman, believe the narrowing of the forms of ID is a narrowing of who can vote.
“Before folks could show 21 different forms of photo or non-photo I-D. Now there’s just a smaller list of photo I-Ds that voters are allowed to show and all Democrats voted against that,” he said in a recent edition of WAJR’s Talk of the Town.
But Democrats have very little voting power these days in the Legislature. The measure sailed through. Secretary of State Kris Warner said 85 percent of people use their drivers license at the polls anyway and that’s still acceptable. It’s also probably why so many thought it was already a requirement. Warner has been asking poll workers about the new wrinkle during early voting.
“I have a series of questions I ask them and one of those is there any problem with photo I-D? They said absolutely not and one lady said she’s been requiring that in her precinct in the last three elections. So I guess this just makes in uniform,” said Warner.
Including West Virginia, 36 states now have a voter I-D requirement. Twenty-four of those states require a photo I-D.
MetroNews caught up with some early voters to see what they thought about it. Some thought it was a way to restrict voting, but most believed it was a reasonable requirement, especially since we show photo I-D for many other things. Warner said it was to insure the integrity of the election’s outcome.
“We had five elections in the last set of municipal elections that resulted in a tie. So, if there’s even one, it’s one too many because you could have put somebody in office that otherwise wouldn’t have been there,” he said.
“In a sense it is suppression,” said Carlson. “Because you’re asking folks to get a photo-ID, when for how many decades we allowed no ID and non-photo ID and we had zero issues at the polls.”
Although the photo I-D is the law, there are four exceptions according to Warner. A voter who has a friend with a photo I-D who will vouch for your identity and is willing to sign an affidavit, will enable the person to vote. Second, a poll worker who has known an individual for longer than six months can allow them to vote without a photo I-D. Many poll workers in West Virginia have been working elections for decades and welcoming the same voters into their polling place. The third exception is for those confined to a nursing home or assisted living facility in which the home is their voting precinct. They would not be required to show a Photo ID. Finally, those who have religious exemptions from the DMV for a photo ID due to their religious beliefs.
“We have got to be vigilant. My job is to carry out what the West Virginia Legislature passes in the way of our laws. We’re here to execute those,” said Warner.