West Virginia voters are going to the polls today that could demonstrate how durable the state’s Republican majority holds up against expected national trends that favor Democrats.
West Virginia Democratic Party Chairman Mike Pushkin was hoping for some electoral pickups.
“We’re cautiously optimistic,” Pushkin told MetroNews.
“The early vote numbers look pretty good. It seems like the Democratic voters are definitely enthused and then showed up early. We hope that trend continues through Election Day. And no matter where you are, whether you’re Republican, Democrat, independent, whatever, just get out and vote. Democracy works best when all voices are heard.”
Republican Party Chairman Josh Holstein took note of headwinds against the GOP nationally but suggested West Virginia is a different story.
“We expect there to be a shift to the left compared to where it was, you know, in 2024, obviously. But we don’t think that that will translate to to massive changes here in West Virginia,” Holstein told MetroNews.
“You know, we’re very conservative. We’re much to the right of the nation, and we expect a lot of our races to still be maintained with Republican control. So not not nearly as concerned as maybe some swing states or other states are, but we always do our due diligence, and we’ve stressed over the last several months to Republicans, you’ve got to turn out.”
Brisk early voting: County clerks reported a total of 162,349 West Virginia voters cast ballots during the early voting period from Oct. 21 through Oct. 31, said Secretary of State Kris Warner.
That’s a 24% higher turnout than in the last midterm general election in November 2022, which had 131,404 early votes.
The unofficial early voter turnout shows a 19% increase in Democratic voters, 28% increase in Republican voters and a 31% increase in unaffiliated voters from the 2022 midterm general election.
“West Virginia voters have the opportunity to continue or increase this trend on Tuesday, November 3rd, by voting between 6:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Voters in line by 7:30 p.m. will be guaranteed the opportunity to vote,” Warner said.
A breakdown of West Virginia turnout as of the last day of early voting this past Saturday shows:
- Early in-person voting period ballots cast: 162,349
- Absentee ballots requested: 9,735
- Absentee ballots returned: 7,001
- Total ballots cast to date: 169,350
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.
So the number of early voters amounts to about 14 percent.
What’s at stake: Ballots include candidates for U.S. Senate, Congress and hot legislative races.
That includes 100 seats in the House of Delegates, plus there are 19 seats being contested in the state Senate. Usually half of the 34-member Senate is up in each voting cycle, but this year two additional seats that were filled by appointment are on the ballot as well.
Democrats are looking to increase their numbers while Republicans would like to limit any losses.
Right now the state Senate has 32 Republicans and two Democrats. The House of Delegates has 9 Democrats and 91 Republicans.
Write-in candidates: Notable write-in candidates will be on ballots this year, but voters won’t see those results until after Election Day.
House Finance Chairman Vernon Criss is running as a write-in candidate in the Parkersburg area after losing the Republican primary to newcomer Charles Hartzog. The Democrat in the race for House District 12 is Dennis Rempel. A Libertarian, Stephen Thomas Smith, is also on ballots for that district.
Former state Delegate Ken Reed filed as a write-in candidate for District 15, which covers Hampshire and Morgan counties and part of Berkeley County. Reed lost the Republican Primary to incumbent state Senator Darren Thorne. The Democrat on general election ballots for the district will be Elizabeth Ferris.
Multiple write-in candidates are running for Fayette County’s House District 50, a seat vacated by former Republican Delegate Elliott Pritt after his arrest on charges relating to sexual exploitation of a minor. The timing of Pritt’s withdrawal as a candidate meant the Republican Party was blocked from replacing him on ballots.
The Democrat on District 50 ballots is Matthew Anderson. Also on ballots are candidates Stacey Hensley of the Constitution Party and Tom Louisos, an independent and former county commissioner. Write-in candidates include William Vest, the current Republican officeholder who was appointed to replace Pritt, plus write-ins Eric Walton and John Pino.
There are write-in candidates for other races as well, including a U.S. Senate race where independent Rio Phillips, who came in fifth in the Democratic primary will aim to take on Republican incumbent Senator Shelley Moore Capito, Democratic candidate Rachel Fetty Anderson and Constitution Party candidate S. Marshall Wilson.
Ballots have a blank line for each race that says “Write-in, if any.”
Ineligible candidates on ballot in state Senate District 4: Voters in precincts for Senate District 4, which includes Mason and parts of Putnam, Jackson and Cabell counties, will see signs designating two candidates as ineligible — but they remain on ballots that were already printed.
Eric Tarr, the Republican incumbent from Putnam County, is now the only eligible candidate still on ballots.
Democrat Zach Abbott lives in Kanawha County, which is not part of the district. So he was ruled ineligible.
Libertarian candidate Stephanie Butcher lives in Mason County, which is the home county of the other senator representing the district, Amy Nichole Grady. West Virginia state law requires senators from the same district to live in different counties.
Because of timing, signage was placed at all polling places for the 4th District race, designating Abbott and Butcher as ineligible.
Proposed amendment: Voters in West Virginia’s election also have a choice about an amendment that could change the wording in the state Constitution from saying “Citizens of the state shall be entitled to vote” to “only citizens of the state who are citizens of the United States are entitled to vote.”
Voting by noncitizens is already unlawful under state and federal statute, but this would place the restriction in the state Constitution.
The wording of the proposed amendment is this:
Only citizens of the United States who are citizens of this state shall be entitled to vote at all elections held within the counties in which they respectively reside; but a person who is a minor, or who has been declared mentally incompetent by a court of competent jurisdiction, or who is under conviction of treason, felony or bribery in an election, or who has not been a resident of the state and of the county in which he or she offers to vote, for 30 days next preceding such offer, shall not be permitted to vote while such disability continues; and, a person in the military, naval, or marine service of the United States shall not be deemed a resident of this state by reason of being stationed therein.
A “yes” vote supports amending the constitution. A “no” vote opposes the amendment and would be for keeping the language as “The citizens of the state shall be entitled to vote.”
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.
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.