Warner makes election-day stop in Parkersburg
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PARKERSBURG - West Virginia's chief elections officer was in Parkersburg Tuesday morning for the general election, part of a five-county itinerary of polling places.
"I'm getting out to see as many different precincts as possible," Secretary of State Kris Warner said.
Tuesday was general Election Day in West Virginia and across the country. Polls opened at 6:30 a.m. and closed at 7:30 p.m. in West Virginia.
On the ballot are candidates for Congress, the state Legislature, a constitutional amendment and local offices.
The results will include the tabulation of votes cast for certified write-in candidates, Warner said. One of the certified candidates was Delegate Vernon Criss, incumbent, in the 12th Delegate District in Wood County, and another was a candidate for U.S. Senate.
Across West Virginia 8,210 poll workers were stationed at 1,643 precincts, Warner said. Warner was in Jackson, Wood, Cabell, Putnam and Kanawha counties on Tuesday.
"It also is an opportunity to thank the poll workers," he said.
The election was running smoothly, due in large part to the training of poll workers that began 18 months ago, Warner said.
Less than 75 election-related phone calls were received by the front office at the statehouse in Charleston by late morning, and none were of major issues, Warner said. Most were of people electioneering within the no-campaign zone around polling places and in other cases the batteries died on two voting machines, which was easily fixed, he said.
Besides few problems reported from precincts, none of the calls were received about residents having to present a photo ID to vote, he said. The photo ID requirement was passed by the Legislature in 2025.
"We haven't had one call about that, either in the primary or in the general election," he said.
More people have been upset with the state Republican Party closing its primary to party members only than photo IDs, Warner said.
Seventeen staffers from the office of the secretary of state on Tuesday also traveled to precincts in all 55 counties of West Virginia, he said. Also, fusion liaison officers who voted on Tuesday also noted if any issues occurred at their polling places, making sure things such as proper IDs were used, lawful procedures and keeping to the 100-foot no-electioneering law were followed, Warner said.
Warner also said he was not surprised by the turnout during early in-person and absentee voting in the general and the primary has exceeded previous midterm elections, Warner said. Numerous issues, events and campaigns have drawn people to the polls, according to Warner.
The office of the secretary of state on Monday said 162,349 ballots were cast in early voting for the general election, 24% greater than the last mid-term general election.
Turnout generally has increased in the last four non-presidential mid-term elections from 2014, he said. Turnout was from 37.8 to 47 percent, Warner said.
Also helping turnout were focused efforts to make it easier and more convenient to register to vote and quickly responding to counter election misinformation, Warner said.
"We really made a big push on social media to stop inaccurate information," he said.