County Clerks across West Virginia had very busy days last week. Thousands of people decided to early vote, in some cases, despite the weather.
Kanawha County Clerk Vera McCormick says the early voting turnout was very good.
“We ended up voting 13,357. In 2008, we had 16,001,” said McCormick.
That might sound like a disappointment but McCormick says there’s been some changes since the last Presidential election to the early voting process that could account for the lower number.
“We had five more days [in 2008]. We only have 13 days now for early voting,” McCormick said.
She says you also have to take into consideration Hurricane Sandy that blew through a week ago Tuesday.
“Our lowest day was the day we had the snow and bad weather. And we did a little over 500 that day.” McCormick compared that to Friday. “We were doing 200 per hour. That’s what we averaged. Most people didn’t wait more than 10-15 minutes. It went very smooth.”
Her prediction for Tuesday?
“We’re looking for a good turnout. I’d say between 60-65 percent,” said McCormick.
Things went just as well for Berkeley County during early voting. Bonnie Westfall is the deputy clerk. She has her prediction for election day.
“We’re looking for a big turnout,” said Westfall.
As for early voting, 8,959 people came out in Berkeley County to cast their ballots. That’s also down from four years ago.
“In 2008 we had a bigger turnout. We had for the general election 11,089,” according to Westfall.
Hurricane Sandy hit the panhandle counties with heavy rain on Monday. Westfall believes that had an impact on their early voting total.
“We did have voters on Monday and Tuesday but the numbers were down some,” she said.
Despite the weather woes the total early voting number for West Virginia was 111,914.