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PARKERSBURG - As early voting in Wood County enters its final days, officials are getting prepared for the general election on Tuesday.
Today and Saturday will be the last days of early voting in Wood County, Wood County Clerk Joe Gonzales told the Wood County Commission on Thursday.
Registered voters can still go in to the Judge Black Annex or one of the community voting sites to do early voting from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. today and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.
"Saturday is the last day," he said.
The community voting sites are located at the Lubeck Volunteer Fire Department, 1349 Harris Highway; the Mineral Wells Volunteer Fire Department, 1695 Elizabeth Pike; the Vienna Community Building, 1301 34th St., Vienna; and the Williamstown City Building, 100 West 5th St.
People need to bring a photo ID.
The polls will be open across the county's 69 precincts on Election Day Tuesday, Nov. 3 from 6:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.
On election night, the clerk's office will have two people tallying the votes the U.S. Senate Race and two people to tally the votes for House of Delegates District 12 race as both races have recognized write-in candidates with Rio Phillips in the U.S. Senate race and Vernon Criss in the House District 12 race, Gonzales said.
There were around 12-15 precincts in District 12, he said adding each of the ballots in those precincts have already been designated as having the ability for people to do a write-in vote for the District 12 race only in those precincts.
Officials will be able to generate an unofficial tally on election night.
"We are going to be here awhile, because we have to hand check it too," Gonzales said. "If there is a question then it will be reviewed during canvass and (the commission) will decide."
Gonzales said there are over 10,000 registered voters in District 12. So far during early vote, they were at 11 percent turnout.
The people tallying the votes in the two races will be a Republican and a Democrat or a Republican and an independent.
Gonzales said the tabulators will indicate there are write-in votes. As the votes are counted, the people designated to tally the votes will do a hand count of those and double check them with the overall number of write-in votes to make sure numbers match.
"We are going to have to double-check everything," he said. "It will be a longer night than usual."
In tabulating the write-in votes, Gonzales said the names don't have to be spelled perfectly or completely but they need to be clear on the intent of who the voter is choosing, whether that is their first name or last or something to give a clear indication of who they are voting for.
Gonzales said there are other counties with five write-in candidates with Fayette County in different races.
"It is all over the state that this is happening," he said. "It will on depend on voter turnout."
Gonzales thinks they may end up having a lower turnout than past elections.
"We will see," he said. "We have had a good turnout for the early vote."
During the early vote, they have not had a lot of questions regarding the write-in candidates.
Weather may impact turnout on Election Day, especially if rain is in the forecast, officials said.
Wood County Commission President Blair Couch said around 20 percent of the total voter turnout for an election has come through early voting. Gonzales said they are currently at 11%.
People who have received absentee ballots, the ballots have to be postmarked by Election Day, personnel in the Wood County Clerk's Office said. It has to be received by the county before the start of the canvassing process the Monday after Election Day.
The personnel in the Wood County Clerk’s Office warned that just dropping the ballot in the mailbox on Election Day is not a guarantee that it will be postmarked that day so people are advised to get it in as early as possible. They need to plan accordingly to make sure it is postmarked in time, they said.
The Wood County Clerk's Office has also previously announced a number of precinct consolidations and location changes that will be in place on Election Day.
Those are:
* Precinct 10 was originally at Good Shepherd Church and has been moved to Jefferson Elementary School, 1103 Plum St., Parkersburg.
* Precinct 19 was originally at Emmanuel Baptist Church and has been moved to the new City Park Pavilion, 1920 Park Ave. Building A, Parkersburg.
* Precincts 27, 37A & 38 were originally at Criss School and have been moved to the new City Park Pavilion, 1920 Park Ave. Building A, Parkersburg.
* Precinct 33 was originally at Beechwood Presbyterian Church and has been moved to Parkersburg High School Cafeteria, 2101 Dudley Ave., Parkersburg.
* Precinct 35 was originally at the Parkersburg-Wood County Library and has been moved to Madison Elementary School, 1426 32nd St., Parkersburg.
* Precinct 41 was originally at the Vienna Library and has been moved to Neale Elementary School, 2305 Grand Central Ave., Vienna.
* Precinct 47 was originally at Fellowship Baptist Church and has been moved to Greenmont Elementary School, 209 58th St., Vienna.
* Precinct 52 was originally at Williamstown City Building and has been moved to Williamstown Elementary School, 430 Caroline Ave., Williamstown.
* Precinct 77 was originally at Edison Middle School and has been moved to Martin Elementary School, 1301 Hillcrest St., Parkersburg.