CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Secretary of State’s Office says voter registration for Republicans and Democrats for the upcoming Nov. 3 General Election is almost even.
The last day to register to vote was Tuesday, Oct. 13,.and certified numbers released Tuesday by the Secretary of State’s Office show the general election will have 470,083 Democrats (37% of the electorate) who are eligible to vote and 458,391 Republicans (36% ). There are 288,000 registered voters (22%) that declare ‘no party.’
MORE link to certified registrations numbers here
The 12,000 voter advantage of Democrats over Republicans represents a continuing trend of Republican voter registration gains. The registration advantage for Democrats in 1995, 25 years ago, was 349,000 voters. Democrats held a 188,700 registration advantage over Republicans heading into the 2016 Primary Election. The registration advantage was 49,953 for last June’s primary.
Heading into the Nov. 3 election, Democrats have the voter registration advantage in 29 counties, Republicans in 26 with several counties nearly split. For example, Harrison County, a longtime Democratic stronghold, still has more registered Democrats than Republicans but only by 1,539 voters. Ohio County is also close with registered Democrats ahead of registered Republicans by just 531 registrations.
West Virginia native Fox News Politics Editor Chris Stirewalt said the pace at West Virginia went from blue to red is remarkable.
“West Virginia didn’t go through a gray period (like other states) they went right from all Democrat to all Republican,” Stirewalt said Tuesday on MetroNews “Talkline.”
Meanwhile, the state’s leading Democrat, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin said a lot of West Virginians have left his party out of frustration but also said in answering a question from MetroNews Tuesday, many of voters have been misled.
“If you’re a Democrat now they’ve made you believe the propaganda that you want to kill babies, that you want to take all of their guns away from everybody, that you basically want to socialize. I can tell you one thing, there’s no room in my mind or my thoughts or my vote for socialization,” Manchin said.
He said the major shift in West Virginia began in 2010, two years after former President Barack Obama took office, when Obamacare and the War on Coal were popular topics.
“People were disgruntled. They really are disgruntled and I understand that and the political winds have shifted dramatically,” Manchin said.
Manchin said many Democrats have changed their registrations because of President Donald Trump but he said Trump hasn’t followed through on his promises, particularly with coal and an infrastructure package.
“He said, ‘We’re going to bring all of the coal jobs back,’ If you’re from a coal mining family you’ll say I’m going to vote for Donald Trump because he’s going to bring our jobs back but we’ve lost more coal jobs under Donald Trump than we did before,” Manchin said. “It just keeps down and down and down.”
Manchin, who won’t be up for reelection until 2024 if he decides to run again, said he hopes state residents vote for the person not the letter beside the name.
“Forget about the D or the R,” Manchin said. “If the D or the R is what you think makes that person you’re voting for the wrong person because they shouldn’t be controlled by either party. They should be controlled by representing you and the needs you have.”
Raleigh County continues to add Republican registrations. The once Democrat-dominated county now has nearly 1,500 more registered Republicans than Democrats.
Democrats continue to have large registration leads in Logan, McDowell and Fayette counties. The greatest advantage of GOP registrations over Democrats are in Berkeley, Wood, Preston and Putnam counties.
Kanawha (29,618), Berkeley (25,325) and Monongalia (19,639) counties have the most register ‘no party’ voters. The total registration of ‘no party’ voters in Berkeley County is more than the number of registered Democrats in that county by 3,055 voters.
The 10-day early voting period for the Nov. 3 election begins Wednesday in West Virginia.