MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Early voting numbers are set at a furious pace for day one of early in-person voting; according to Monongalia County Clerk Carye Blaney, a total of 3,157 early ballots were cast at four locations.
On WAJR’s “Talk of the Town,” she said the good weather combined with the first opportunity to cast a ballot as the media onslaught intensifies leading up to the November 5 election could be the driving factors.
“I think we are going to have a higher turnout,” Blaney said. “We have a little over 65,000 registered voters for this election, and we voted a little over 4 percent of them yesterday.”
If participation continues at the current rate, she believes early voting numbers could surpass the number of early ballots cast for two previous presidential election cycles.
“In the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, we voted a total of about 20,000 people during the early voting period,” Blaney said. “So, I think we’re going to exceed that for this early voting period if these numbers stay this high each day.”
Blaney said 1,800 of the votes were cast at the Mountaineer Mall on Greenbag Road, which also serves as the county election headquarters. The lines moved quickly, and she said there were no problems with the equipment on the first day. Centers at the Mason Dixon Historical Park, Suncrest Town Center, and the WVU Museum Education Center will be open through November 2 to wrap up the early voting period.
“We had steady lines, but I would ask people at the end of the line how long they had been waiting, and it was 5 to 10 minutes,” Blaney said. “So, the line moved very quickly; we have an efficient set up.”
Weather and the amount of media coverage she believes could be responsible for the record one-day total.
“I think people have just been anxious about the election,” Blaney said. “There’s been a lot of media discussion and, about it, a lot of marketing, and they are just wanting to come out and vote.”
To vote early or on the November 5 Election Day, residents must show a valid, unexpired form of identification.