Committee advances voter-ID bill adding photo requirement; citizenship marker removed after debate

The committee reported House Bill 3016 to the full Senate with the recommendation that it pass after adopting a striking-and-insert amendment. Counsel described the proposal as amending West Virginia law to require that an identifying document presented to vote must contain a photograph of the voter.

Counsel summarized acceptable photo IDs listed in the amendment—driver’s licenses, passports, student IDs, DMV-issued identification cards, military IDs and certain employee IDs—and said the bill requires the Secretary of State to provide a registration card with a photo at no charge. The amendment also contains a provision to assist elderly voters by allowing use of an otherwise valid ID that expired after the voter's 60th birthday.

Committee debate turned on a provision that had been reinserted in the striking and insert: language in Chapter 17B (DMV) that would have required a driver's license or ID issued to noncitizen legal residents lawfully present in West Virginia to bear the designation “NV” (nonvoter) on the photo. Counsel explained that the reinserted language reflected an earlier House draft; the House removed similar language over concerns it might be considered derogatory.

Delegate Erica Moore, the bill’s lead sponsor, told the committee the citizenship designation language was discussed during House committee work and removed to avoid targeting lawful noncitizen residents. She said the focus following those discussions was to ensure a workable photo-ID bill and that citizenship-marker questions would be addressed later if at all. "Originally the bill ... had addressed citizenship on the driver's license and all forms of identification as well as having a photo ID. ... when the discussion ended, we just decided we couldn't decide on it at this time," Moore said.

Senators debated whether the DMV language was present in the striking-and-insert version before them; counsel and committee staff confirmed a hard copy showed a Chapter 17B insertion that might not have been present in each electronic copy. After discussion, the committee adopted the striking-and-insert amendment and then a later amendment from Senator Jefferson removed the proposed Chapters 17B citizenship-designation language from the amendment. With the citizenship marking removed, the committee voted to report the amended bill to the full Senate with a recommendation it pass.

What changed: the committee kept a photo requirement for voter IDs and added an option for free photo registration cards from the Secretary of State; it declined to carry forward a DMV citizenship marker (NV) after sponsor and committee concern.

Next steps: House Bill 3016 as amended will be placed on the Senate calendar for floor consideration.