Voter turnout up in Morgantown, but still room to improve

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Voter turnout for Morgantown’s municipal election was better but still left a lot of room for improvement.

With all seven city council seats up for grabs, 2,707 voters casts ballots. While that number blew away the previous election total of 1,521 voters in 2015, it still only represents 15 percent of the 18,076 registered voters in the city.

“Over at Morgantown High School they were standing in lines to vote,” remarked City Clerk Linda Tucker.

1,500 people waited until Election Day on Tuesday to vote, 1,188 took advantage of early voting and 23 absentee ballots were submitted.

The 15 percent turnout is on par for recent elections. The 2013 city election saw just over 12 percent turnout.

The exception was the 2011 election when over 3,600 voters casts ballots in the city’s “vote by mail” election.

“I still suggest to council, they still need to look at voting with the county. It would be smarter and it would just be fiscally better,” Tucker recommended.