Mon County voter turnout slips for the third straight cycle, fall races set up

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. Voter turnout for the May 2024 primary election in Monongalia County was slightly over 28 percent. Of the 62,829 registered voters, 17,651 participated in the election.

By party, Republicans cast 8,741 ballots, Democrats cast 8,143 ballots, 725 ballots were cast by the Mountain, and 15 nonpartisan ballots were cast.

Steven Neuenschwander cast his ballot on Tuesday and said his path to the polls was trouble-free from beginning to end.

“It’s really easy to vote in Morgantown,” Neuenschwander said. “You walk in; it takes a minute or two to get your ballot; you get to the machine and punch stuff in.”

This was the second time ever for Kate Blosser to vote, and she said it’s always been efficient. Blosser also said exercising her duty as a citizen was very important to her as well.

“I think it’s an important part of living here, and if we have the power to make decisions, then we should use it,” Blosser said.

The primary election did set up a race for the Western District on Monongalia County Commission between incumbent two-term Democrat Tom Bloom and Republican MaryAnn Babich Folz, who ran unopposed. Bloom collected 6,201 votes, and Folz had 5,721.

Another race in November set up by the primary is for the Monongalia County Assessor’s office. Running unopposed, three-term Democratic incumbent Mark Music got 6,690 votes, and former field deputy Rich Jacobs received 5,643 votes.

This election was also the first for the residents of Star City to be aligned with state and national elections. Sharon Doyle won an unopposed race for mayor with 237 votes; Steve Blinco won the race for record with 231 votes; and the top five vote earners for city council were Andy Laskody, Lyn DeChristopher, Todd Greg, James Morris, and Gregory Epps.

In Westover, Bob Lucci ran unopposed for mayor and earned 629 votes. Voters also passed a charter amendment increasing the term to four years to match those of the council. The top vote-getters for the Westover City Council were Randy Barnett and Mark Gall. Edie Viola and Duane Tatar are each tied with 313 votes.