Early voting begins today ‘No party’ trend continues

In-person early voting for the General Election begins today at County Clerk’s offices across West Virginia and continues through Saturday, November 3.

In addition to normal courthouse hours, the County Clerk’s Office will be open for early voting from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, October 27 and November 3.

General Election Day is Tuesday, November 6.

Locally, voters will choose a Morgan County commissioner, sheriff, assessor and two magistrates.
Prosecuting Attorney Debra McLaughlin is also seeking reelection, but has no opponent.

In state and national races, voters will pick a U.S. President, members of Congress, governor, state legislators and various state office holders.

The only question on the ballot is whether the West Virginia Constitution should be changed to allow a sheriff to be elected for more than two 4-year terms. Presently, the sheriff, like U.S. President, is limited to two terms.

A sample ballot was in last week’s Morgan Messenger and will also be in next week’s issue.

‘No party’ trend
Voter registration for the November 6 election closed last week. Some 11,837 people are now registered to vote in Morgan County’s General Election – 574 more than in the 2010 General Election.

Of those, 5,044 residents (or 43%) are registered Republicans; 3,440 (or 29%) are registered Democrats; and 3,003 (or 25%) are registered as having no party preference.

In addition, 262 people (or 2%) are registered as Independent Party members, 49 as Mountain Party members, 19 as Libertarians and 20 from assorted other political parties.

There are 329 more potential voters than for May’s Primary and School Board Elections. Since then, 183 more people have registered as having no party preference or as Independent, while Republicans added 122 to their rolls and Democrats added 24.

Candidate remarks
This week’s Morgan Messenger includes responses to the newspaper’s questionnaire from candidates for assessor, magistrate, governor, U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

Last week’s Messenger contained the responses from candidates for sheriff, county commissioner, West Virginia State Senate and House of Delegates.

All of the candidates for those offices replied to The Messenger’s questionnaire except Shelley Capito, Republican candidate for U.S. House of Representatives, and Jesse Johnson, Mountain Party candidate for governor.