---
type: "Bill"
title: "Permitting ballot commissioners serve while candidates for certain offices"
description: "Permitting ballot commissioners serve while candidates for certain offices"
jurisdiction: "us/states/wv"
legislature: "West Virginia Legislature"
session: "2018"
identifier: "SB 351"
citation: "West Virginia SB 351 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Elections"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Trump"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 33
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2018-01-23"
last_action: "2018-04-23"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/92b6173a-cb6d-4c49-9ece-873e505a7b68"
source_url: "http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=351&year=2018&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill"
source_hash: "59e8b265b2b7c6619fe536ac50dadd865294576b810fba135de8045c4cedef8a"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-wv"]
---

# West Virginia SB 351 (2018) — Permitting ballot commissioners serve while candidates for certain offices

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Enrolled Version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=SB351%20ENR.htm&yr=2018&sesstype=RS&i=351)
2. **Originating in Committee** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=SB351%20ORG.htm&yr=2018&sesstype=RS&i=351)

## Votes

- Passage — **27–5** (pass) · legislature
- PASSAGE — **86–13** (pass) · legislature
- EFFECT FROM PASSAGE — **94–5** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Trump — primary (person)
- Azinger — cosponsor (person)
- Clements — cosponsor (person)
- Cline — cosponsor (person)
- Jeffries — cosponsor (person)
- Karnes — cosponsor (person)
- Maynard — cosponsor (person)
- Ojeda — cosponsor (person)
- Romano — cosponsor (person)
- Rucker — cosponsor (person)
- Smith — cosponsor (person)
- Swope — cosponsor (person)
- Weld — cosponsor (person)
- Woelfel — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2018-01-23** Originating in Senate Judiciary
- **2018-01-23** Reported do pass `committee-passage`
- **2018-01-24** On 1st reading
- **2018-01-24** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2018-01-25** On 2nd reading
- **2018-01-25** Senator Baldwin requests to be removed as sponsor of bill
- **2018-01-25** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2018-01-26** On 3rd reading
- **2018-01-26** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2018-01-26** Passed Senate (Roll No. 25) `passage`
- **2018-01-26** Effective from passage (Roll No. 25)
- **2018-01-26** Ordered to House
- **2018-01-29** Introduced in House `introduction`
- **2018-01-29** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-29** To House Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2018-03-01** Do pass
- **2018-03-02** On 1st reading, Special Calendar
- **2018-03-02** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2018-03-03** On 2nd reading, Special Calendar
- **2018-03-03** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2018-03-05** On 3rd reading, Special Calendar
- **2018-03-05** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2018-03-05** Passed House (Roll No. 315) `passage`
- **2018-03-05** Effective from passage (Roll No. 316)
- **2018-03-05** Communicated to Senate
- **2018-03-05** Completed legislative action
- **2018-03-06** House Message received
- **2018-03-09** To Governor 3/9/18 `executive-receipt`
- **2018-03-10** To Governor 3/9/18 - House Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2018-03-10** Approved by Governor 3/20/18 - House Journal
- **2018-03-20** Approved by Governor 3/20/18 `executive-signature`
- **2018-03-10** Approved by Governor 3/20/18 - Senate Journal
- **2018-04-23** Chapter 77, Acts, Regular Session, 2018

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/92b6173a-cb6d-4c49-9ece-873e505a7b68`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official West Virginia legislature records).