West Virginia voters are going to the polls today for what’s been a wild and woolly off-year primary election.
What’s at stake: All ballots include two nonpartisan state Supreme Court races for unexpired terms and a race for Intermediate Court of Appeals. Democratic and Republican voters will be selecting candidates for U.S. Senate, Congress and hot legislative races.
When to vote: Polls are open statewide from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. today.
Where to vote: The Secretary of State’s Office has a handy guide to look up your polling place.
Who can vote: Republicans in West Virginia are having closed primaries this year, meaning only registered Republicans can participate. Unaffiliated voters can still specifically ask for the Democratic or Mountain Party ballots. Or, unaffiliated voters may receive a ballot with nonpartisan issues like the Supreme Court race.
Voter ID is required: Voters will have to produce a document with both their name and image.
Where to get results and analysis: The Secretary of State will update results online.
West Virginia MetroNews will update results on its own election landing page.
And hosts Dave Wilson, Jeff Jenkins and the entire MetroNews team will provide live election night coverage starting at 7:06 p.m. on radio stations around West Virginia plus MetroNews Television.
Early voting: A total of 67,356 votes were cast early during the period from April 29 through May 9.
Secretary of State Kris Warner said the total represents an 8% increase over the total number of early voters compared to 2022, the most recent off-year.
“That tells me that West Virginia voters have confidence in our election process,” Warner said.
“Even with the high volume of campaign materials we saw this cycle, voters still want to participate in electing state, county, and local leaders.”
How many voters are there? West Virginia has about 1.2 million registered voters, including about 520,000 Republicans, 327,000 Democrats and 302,000 voters unaffiliated with any party.
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Skyrocketing spending: MetroNews has calculated that about $5 million has been spent among a handful of political action committees, particularly in legislative races.
The highest of those is Sugar Maple PAC associated with allies of Gov. Patrick Morrisey with $1.124 million in spending.
Among other Morrisey aligned political action committees, School Freedom Fund affiliated with Club for Growth has spent $917,000, the political action committee for Americans for Prosperity-West Virginia has spent about $800,000; Mountaineer Conservative Alliance has spent $514,000 and Make Liberty Win spent $400,000.
On the other side of the spending, Mountaineer Freedom Alliance has spent $708,000 and the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce’s political arm has spent $509,000.
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Governor Morrisey wades in: The governor has been unusually active with endorsements and campaigning to help some Republican candidates while working against their Republican opponents.
“How did we get into this mess to begin with? The elites, liberals, the corporate media, and the Charleston establishment have driven our state in the wrong direction for years,” Morrisey wrote in a Wheeling newspaper opinion piece.
“Entrenched politicians have been walking the halls of Charleston for a long time, endlessly trying the same failed policies while looking out for the same old friends. They have prioritized their own political survival over the fundamentals required to secure West Virginia’s future.”
Melody Potter, former chairwoman of the West Virginia Republican Party, issued a blunt analysis on social media.
“There is a question worth asking before the May 12 Republican Primary, and it cuts straight to the bone: does Patrick Morrisey think West Virginians are stupid?” Potter posted.
“Because the playbook he is running this primary season only works if we are.”
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