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Another election cycle has come and gone, and I'm close to catching up on my sleep from another extended work day.
I'll admit, there were some results I didn't necessarily like, but you'll have that with any election. There also were some which ended up not being as close of a contest as I had anticipated. That's the thing about elections, whether it's your first time or you are a seasoned observer, the only way you can be sure of a result is if the candidate is running unopposed.
Sadly, that was the case in many of our local races for the primary election this year. My focus Tuesday night was Hancock County, but because so many of the races featured only one candidate, my main interests were the county commission and magistrate elections.
The county school board had two seats available, one currently held by a representative of Butler District and one currently held by a representative of Grant District. There also were two individuals on the ballot. Incumbent Chris Gillette was re-elected from Butler District, and Randy Swartzmiller, from Grant District, will now hold the seat currently occupied by Larry Shaw.
Two of the three county magistrate divisions were unopposed contests, incumbent Sheriff Scott Gittings was the only Republican seeking his office, with Dezso Polgar the lone Democrat. They both automatically move on to the general election in November.
The county prosecuting attorney, county assessor and the conservation district supervisor each had only one candidate on the ballot.
It was a similar situation in Brooke County, where only the school board election and the renewal of the county school levy had any real consequences in the primary. All of the other county races had only one candidate (whether entirely or per party).
Two of our four legislative races were contested this time.
So, when I look on the West Virginia Secretary of State's website, and see the office's report of just over 30% voter participation statewide (358,173 ballots out of 1,181,437 registered voters), with 32.02% in Brooke County (4,713 ballots with 14,721 voters) and 28.19% in Hancock County (5,438 ballots from 19,290 voters), I'm really not too surprised to see such a relatively low turnout.
Yes, we have elections for president, governor, U.S. Senate and the U.S. House on the ballot, along with various state offices, but that obviously didn't matter to too many when only around one-third of the eligible voters took part.
Sure, there were hundreds of campaign signs posted along the local roads, but how often did you actually see a candidate for those higher offices make their way to our area? There was a Democratic candidate event in Follansbee April 19, which brought Steven Wendelin, Steve Williams, Teresa Toriseva and Glenn Elliott north of Wheeling (of course, two of them are from Wheeling, so it wasn't that far of a drive). A similar Republican event the night before saw Moore Capito, Wendelin, Nate Cain, Alexander Gaaserud and Elgine McArdle in Weirton.
Cain has been in Weirton multiple times, even before officially declaring his candidacy, and Moore Capito visited earlier in the spring. Riley Moore and Patrick Morrisey also have been in the area, either through the duties of their current offices or as part of campaign visits.
Others may have been here, but they didn't make it publicly known.
There's just under six months until the general election. We'll have a few more contested races for local elections that time around. We'll also have the Weirton municipal election, with city voters deciding their next mayor and council representatives. My suggestion to the voters, as always, is to take the time to educate yourself on all of the candidates going on the ballot.
For the candidates themselves, I would encourage you to not forget our area exists. There's a lot going on in the Weirton area, and the voters want to see and hear from you.
(Howell, a resident of Colliers, is managing editor of The Weirton Daily Times, and can be contacted at chowell@weirtondailytimes.com or followed on Twitter/X @ChowellWDT)