CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Both Kanawha County Clerk Vera McCormick and Putnam County Clerk Brian Wood expect polling places in their counties to be busy during Tuesday’s primary election.
The turnout in Kanawha County could be as high as 50 percent, McCormick said Monday, citing an energized electorate. She said visits last week to the Charleston area by presidential candidates Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders helped fuel the fire.
“They never come to West Virginia because most of the time by our primary you already know who the presidential nominee for the November (ballot) is going to be,” McCormick said.
Early voting numbers in Kanawha County topped 7,000, a new record for the 10-day period. McCormick noticed many first-time voters.
“That’s exciting,” she said.
Heavy early voting numbers could help ease some of the lines Tuesday at Kanawha County’s 163 voting precincts, McCormick said.
Putnam County saw just more than 3,200 early voters, Wood said.
“People are enthused for their candidate,” he said.
Wood said Republican early voters seemed to have very few problems with the three-page ballot that includes more than 200 candidates to be delegates to the party’s national convention.
“A lot of people came prepared. They had their sample ballots marked and ready to go. They were well-educated voters,” he said. “I hope the same trend holds for election day.”
Some of the challenged races in Putnam County include a school board race, county commission match-up, a race for magistrate and some contested delegate races.
Putnam County has 46 precincts and approximately 37,000 overall voters. Kanawha County has approximately 137,000 registered voters.