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By now, the canvassing of the general election should be complete, and West Virginia’s results should be getting close to being declared official (there’s still a final certification process which must be completed).
I’m sure there are a few thoughts among our population after seeing how the candidates fared. I don’t know if there were too many surprises.
While, as a voter, I certainly had individuals I preferred to see in office, as a journalist, I, ultimately, have to communicate with anyone holding elected office no matter how I might feel about them personally.
I’m not going to get into those intricacies, though. Instead, let’s take a look at the election by some of the numbers and see how we fared.
Statewide, the Secretary of State’s Office reports a 38.45 percent voter participation rate, with 465,425 out of the 1,210,385 registered voters casting ballots through a combination of early and day-of voting.
Compare that to the last couple of mid-term elections, and there are definitely some variations.
In 2022, West Virginia saw 494,753 of its 1,153,100 registered voters participate in the general election. That represents 42.91 percent.
The 2018 mid-terms saw a 47.93 percent participation, with 597,149 of 1,245,827 voters taking part. In 2014, we had 462,864 of 1,225,926 (37.8 percent), and in 2008 we had 702,109 of 1,212,117 (57.9 percent) participating.
Anything prior to that, and you have to look through the West Virginia Blue Book. Digital copies of those publications are available online for those interested in scanning their way through.
At the top of the ballot, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito won her latest re-election bid, receiving 266,772 votes (or 58.3 percent of the vote), compared to her challengers Rachel Fetty Anderson (173,656 votes) and S. Marshall Wilson (17,183 votes).
Locally, Capito received 3,494 votes from Brooke County voters and 4,869 votes from Hancock County. What was interesting is she actually lost the vote in her home county of Kanawha, although only by a slim margin. There, Capito received 23,244 votes (48.48 percent of the county’s totals) compared to Anderson’s 23,577 (49.18 percent). It’s a small difference, but a surprising one.
In the race for our U.S. House seat, incumbent Riley Moore received 144,109 votes (59.37 percent) compared to his opponent Ace Parsi who received 98,615 votes. In Brooke County, Moore took 3,474 votes to Parsi’s 1,962, and in Hancock it was a difference of 4,939 for Moore and 2,537 for Parsi.
In Jefferson County, though, where Riley Moore resides, he lost by a margin of 333 votes. There, Parsi came out on top with 10,621 votes to Moore’s 10,288.
I’m not going to speculate whether that could mean anything, because, obviously, it’s the totals from either the entire state or district which determine the outcome. It’s just an interesting observation for the time being.
Brooke County’s voter turnout for the mid-terms showed a 36.78 percent participation, with 5,576 out of 15,159 registered voters, while Hancock County had 7,684 of 18,945 voters (40.56 percent) take part.
In 2022, though, Brooke had 6,686 of 14,548 votes (45.96 percent) and Hancock had 8,809 of 18,768 voters (46.94 percent) take part.
Presidential election years showed higher numbers, seemingly confirming the idea that more people participate in elections when there’s a chance to vote for the occupant of the White House. Then again, those years tend to have more on the ballot in general.
I live in Brooke County, and there were seven races on my ballot. U.S. Senate, U.S. House, West Virginia Senate, West Virginia House, two county commission seats (both of which were uncontested) and a Constitutional Amendment.
I already know 2028 will see a heavier ballot, for a multitude of reasons. We’ll have the presidential election, of course. It also will be time to vote on West Virginia’s other Senate seat - the one currently held by Jim Justice - and Riley Moore will be on the ballot again. Then, there will be the governor’s race, the elections for every member of the state’s Board of Public Works, our area’s state Senate seat currently held by Ryan Weld, each seat in the House of Delegates, and each county will have a commission seat up for grabs.
In addition, the primary election that year will have school board races.
The newer aspect that year will be the inclusion of some of our area’s municipal elections. Weirton started this as a result of some adjustments launched in 2019, realigning its municipal election, and now the Legislature has mandated all cities in West Virginia reschedule their elections for either a presidential or mid-term election year. Chester already has done so, and New Cumberland and Follansbee are in the process. I would expect others to begin that process soon, as it has to be completed by 2032.
That should make for more interesting election years going forward, and definitely a heavier workload for those covering the elections.
(Howell, a resident of Colliers, is part of the news staff of The Weirton Daily Times. He can be contacted at chowell@weirtondailytimes.com or followed on Twitter/X @CHowellWDT)