CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. — After waiting in long lines to early vote on Wednesday, day one of the early voting period for the Nov. 3 general election, some voters in Charles Town walked out to an unwelcome surprise — parking tickets.
Charles Town Chief of Police Chris Kutcher says 17 violations were issued Tuesday.
“In talking with the clerk over at the county, they were saying it was upwards of four, four and a half hours (waiting in line to vote), and the mayor and I made the decision that if anyone did get an expired meter citation as a result of their early voting, we asked them to reach out to us and then we would work with them to resolve the citation.”
He said hundreds of people stood in line to vote and he wasn’t sure how many of the 17 tickets were related to early voting.
Mayor Bob Trainor says while they can’t stop enforcing parking laws, they will work with folks who get a ticketed because they were waiting to vote.
“We definitely don’t want to have people get tickets because they are voting. So we are willing to work with those people, but I support Chief 100 percent that we have to enforce the parking zone because there are other issues that could arise from that,” he told the Panhandle News Network.