CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Rain did not keep early voters from arriving to cast their ballots first thing on Wednesday morning at the Kanawha County Voter Registration Office on what was day one of West Virginia’s ten-day early voting period ahead of the May primary election.
“It is crowded,” one early voter reported after exiting the voting area, one of the many early voting locations in all 55 Mountain State counties.
Convenience was the top reason the voters MetroNews spoke with cited when asked about their early votes.
“I am going on vacation, so I thought I better get out and do it,” said Rick Bowles from Charleston.
Bud Bush from Cross Lanes will also be out of town. “It makes it real convenient,” he said.
Within the first 90 minutes of early voting in Kanawha County, 80 people voted.
“It’s been steady. The streams (of voters) have been steady today and it’s went well,” reported Vera McCormick, Kanawha County clerk.
“We’ve got extra help and I’ve got extra people in the early voting room, extra people in my office so we can take of if we have lines or anything like that.”
Overall, 336,533 total votes were cast in West Virginia’s 2012 primary, the last presidential election year, for an official turnout of just more than 27 percent, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
McCormick said she’d like to see turnout in this year’s primary more than double that. “I’d love to have a good turnout,” she said.
New voters could help drive up the turnout number. Among the earliest early voters Wednesday was Bowles who said he had not voted in an election since 2004 when now U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was the Democratic presidential nominee.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s pursuit of the Democratic presidential nomination was his reason for voting this year.
“When (former President) Bill (Clinton) was in office, I feel like that she had just as much influence with him and I feel like that, if she becomes president, I feel like he will have influence on her too in decision making and I think he was a very good president,” Bowles said.
He called his ballot “normal,” but Bush was surprised with how long his ballot was. “I told the lady I ran out of ink,” he said with a laugh. “I voted until I got tired and then I left.”
In addition to nominating candidates for president, U.S. House of Representatives, governor, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, agriculture commissioner, attorney general, state Senate, state House of Delegates, judges are being elected for the first time in nonpartisan races.
Those nonpartisan contests are at the end of the ballots.
At the local levels, there are also board of education races, which are nonpartisan, along with mayoral, city council and county levy elections in parts of West Virginia.
For Republicans or independents voting with Republicans, the ballots include more than 200 possible delegates for the Republican National Convention before the nonpartisan races are listed.
“It was big,” said Kathy Danberry, an early voter from St. Albans, of the ballot. “I didn’t know it was going to be that big. I mean, both sides — front, back — it was a lot.”
Still, she said she’s glad to have her voting behind her. “I’ve already voted and I’m done,” she said.
Early voting, which includes regular weekday hours along with two Saturdays, continues through Saturday, May 7.
West Virginia’s primary is on Tuesday, May 10.