Door-to-door selling in Kanawha County is licensed by each city, not the county. Charleston, South Charleston, St. Albans, Dunbar, and Nitro require commercial solicitors to register, pass a police background check, and carry an ID badge. Religious and political canvassing stays exempt.
West Virginia municipalities regulate peddlers and solicitors under their police power in W. Va. Code §8-12-5. Each Kanawha County city has a solicitor, peddler, or transient-vendor ordinance requiring a commercial door-to-door seller to register with the city clerk or police, submit to a criminal background check, carry a photo identification badge, and observe permitted hours, commonly ending by early evening. Charleston, a Municipal Home Rule city, sets its own registration and fee. Charitable, religious, and political canvassers cannot be barred, since door-to-door advocacy is constitutionally protected speech, though a city may ask them to register for identification. The unincorporated county issues no solicitor permit.
Soliciting without the required city permit lets police order the canvasser to stop, issue a municipal-court fine under the local ordinance, and deny future licensing.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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See how Kanawha County's solicitor permits rules stack up against other locations.
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