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Live blog: Justice declares victory on road bond vote

10:01 p.m.

9:57 p.m.

9:33 p.m.

Margin remains consistent. 60,173 in favor and 24,311 against.

That’s with 45 percent of precincts reporting.

Several counties are now reporting 100 percent votes in.

Just got a reminder also that the results don’t include provisional ballots or absentee ballots received by mail after Election Day. But the margin, to me, is looking bigger than that anyway.

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9:18 p.m.

Margin holding on #WVroadbond https://t.co/sX4umXppdx

9:12 p.m.

Senate President Carmichael, who earlier had stopped by the Secretary of State’s office, quickly put out a news release, again expressing his excitement over his anticipation that the road bond will pass.

 

9:09 p.m.

8:57 p.m.

Results still looking strong in favor of passage.

Thanks to Dave Mistich and the gang at West Virginia Public Broadcasting for their sharing of this interactive, rapidly updating map.

See just below for Senate President Carmichael’s pretty-much declaration of victory for the bond referendum.

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8:42 p.m.

Mitch Carmichael

Senate President Mitch Carmichael dropped by the Secretary of State’s office and, essentially, declared victory for the road bond. “I’m so proud of the people of West Virginia,” Carmichael said.

Carmichael dropped by to check on results and then found himself surrounded by reporters. He said he’d been at the Governor’s Mansion in the company of Gov. Jim Justice.

“The governor is exalted, and I think he should be,” Carmichael said.

About the time Carmichael was talking, the pro bond vote was at 20,216 while the against vote was 8,244. That was about a 3 to 1 margin.

“The spread is amazing. I am always amazed by how good the people of West Virginia are. It continues to impress me every day.”

He acknowledged the likelihood of a special session of the Legislature in the near future, focusing on legislation meant to ensure West Virginians have as much access as possible to the anticipated roads jobs.

“There’s talk about some bills to try to make the hiring process more expeditious,” Carmichael said.

8:17 p.m.

Very early results show more votes in favor of the road bond:

For the amendment: 5,872, which is 77 percent.

Against the amendment: 1,750, which is 23 percent

That’s 7,622 votes.

That info, which will be updated, is available here.

7:50 p.m.

Monongalia County — the only county where electronic voting machines were used — quickly tallied its early-voting results. Those were heavily in favor of the bond: http://www.monongaliacountyclerk.com/component/content/83?task=view

7:12 p.m.

7:02 p.m.

West Virginia voters go to the polls Saturday to approve or reject the road bond amendment. Polls opened at 6:30 a.m. and were to close at 7:30 p.m.

Early voting ended Wednesday with 37,534 (unofficial) early votes and absentees ballots cast. That number represents about 3.2 percent of all registered voters.

We’ll be updating here throughout the evening. We’ll also provide updates on the air for MetroNews affiliates during the WVU post-game show at roughly 8:06, 8:34, 8:58 and 9:23.

The Secretary of State’s website will offer a new Election Night Reporting system. Unofficial results overall and by county will be available in real-time for the public and media after the polls close Saturday evening.

There were 1,851 precincts open across the state, but some polling locations may have consolidated.

Secretary of State Mac Warner planned to lead a staff of 10 visiting every county in the state on Election Day. They were to make visits to the county courthouse and to random voting precincts in each county.  Every county was to receive a visit but not every precinct.

Gov.Jim Justice said his Saturday would begin with voting in his Greenbrier County precinct. He said he’ll end the day by making a statement, win or lose, at the Capitol after results come in, likely around 10 p.m.

In between, as he waited out the big day, his plan was flexible.

“Then I’ll probably — I don’t know if I’ll do any good bow hunting in the middle of the day — but I may go do that,” Justice said.

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