CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Kanawha County Commission voted Thursday to add a community voting site on Charleston’s West Side despite opposition from local Republicans.
The 3-0 vote came after two hours of public discussion involving local political leaders and West Side residents.
The commission discussed the approval of using space at the Girl Scouts of Black Diamond Council building earlier this month, but the Kanawha County Republican Executive Committee objected to utilizing the space.
Ahead of the commission’s meeting, the state Republican Party accused the commission of wanting to open an early voting location in the “most Democrat friendly location in Kanawha County” as other sites were being closed.
“To say all of these places are going to be closed in outlying areas, I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Commission President Kent Carper said. “I don’t know, but I don’t think so.”
Tresa Howell, the chairman of the Kanawha County Republican Executive Committee, cited multiple proposals at the state Legislature to increase voter access as reasons to oppose the new site, including measures on same-day voter registration and allowing residents 65 and over to vote absentee.
“If you take that into consideration and seeing Democrats also asking for ballot drop boxes, when you open up new early voting satellite precincts, those are things you have to take into consideration,” she said.
The state Legislature, which is controlled by Republicans, has not passed any of these proposals.
West Sides residents and voting rights advocates held a rally before the commission’s meeting; Charleston mayoral candidate Martec Washington said the voting place is an ideal location.
“The voting location is literally next door to my mom’s house,” he said. “It would be tremendous if my mom was able to walk instead of using her walker to go vote for her son.”
Mary Ann Claytor, the co-chair of the West Virginia Democratic Party’s Black Caucus, said establishing the polling location sends a clear message about “accessible and flexible voting.”
Commissioner Lance Wheeler, a Republican, shared his support for the new site during the meeting.
“We can’t put a voting location in every single town, every ZIP code. It’s just not feasibly possible. Not just the money, but the amount of poll workers and training,” he said. “We have the curious task ahead of us as county commissioners and Vera McCormick, the county clerk, of where we can use the most locations for the best money.”
Carper recognized there may be a legal challenge against the voting site, but he is confident in the commission’s approval and his staff’s review.
“If someone wants to do that, then we’ll do that,” he said.
The commission additionally approved eight other early community voting sites:
— Marmet town hall.
— Nitro Police Department headquarters.
— Voter’s Registration Office in Charleston.
— Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office detachment in Cross Lanes.
— Belle town hall.
— Saint Albans town hall.
— Sissonville library.
— Elkview Community Center.