Voting: Register and make your voice heard
Trending
Most Mountain State residents will agree the upcoming November general election is among the more important we've been asked to decide over the past several years. Yet according to U.S. Census Bureau data, there is a good chance a small percentage of West Virginians will be making those decisions for all of us.
West Virginia had the second-lowest voter turnout rate in the country in 2020 -- behind only Arkansas. Back then a mere 55.3% of registered voters in West Virginia turned out to vote in the general election. This time around, only 30.49% of registered voters participated in the 2024 primary elections.
In May 2024, there were 1,181,437 registered voters in the Mountain State (though that number may be swelling with more registrations in anticipation of the general election). Of those, 360,220 voted. There are an estimated 1,766,107 residents of West Virginia now, meaning that if only about the same number vote in the general election as did in the primary, only approximately 20.4% of residents will be making decisions on behalf of ALL of us.
That is simply unacceptable.
Certainly, it continues to leave the door wide open for the state to be run in a way that does not align with the values of the majority.
The deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 5, 2024, general election is Oct. 15. If you are eligible but not yet registered, do it now.
But more importantly, those who are registered MUST fulfill their responsibility to vote.
In just about any other situation, the will of one-fifth of a population would not determine the fate of the population as a whole. If we allow it, it very well may, here.
If the decisions made about your school district, community, county, state and country are important to you (and they should be), add your voice, or be forced to wonder "What if?"