Secretary of State Sending Out Voter Confirmation Postcards

Some West Virginia registered voters will be asked to verify their address, or potentially not be able to vote in upcoming elections.

If you are a registered voter and have:

• changed your address with the DMV or post office,
• not voted — or updated your voter registration — in the past four years

you’ll be getting a postcard from the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office to verify your address.

You can verify your address by scanning the QR code on the postcard with a mobile device and follow the instructions to keep your registration in “active” status. Voters can also check and update their registration information online at ovr.sos.wv.gov, or by simply mailing the completed pre-paid postage postcard to their county clerk.

Voters who do not return the postcards, or if the cards are returned by the USPS as “undeliverable,” will be categorized as inactive.

Inactive voters are still eligible to vote in the next two federal election cycles, but those who don’t vote may not be able to vote in further elections

If the voter does not confirm their address, or vote, state law mandates that the registration be canceled.

Election officials will mail postcards to each of the 169,417 voters identified after the November 2020 General Election.

Regular maintenance on voter registration lists is mandated by the National Voter Registration Act and West Virginia law.

Voter list maintenance has been a priority for the WV Secretary of State’s Office since Secretary Mac Warner first took office in 2017. Warner reports that from January 2017 to July 2021, 364,301 abandoned, deceased, duplicate, out of state and convicted felon voter registration files have been purged in the Statewide Voter Registration System.

During the same period of time, a total of 255,888 new voters have been registered to vote, which included more than 67,000 high school students.

For more information, please contact your county clerk or the WV Secretary of State’s Office at (304) 558-8000.