Letter to the Editor: Don’t sit it out
Trending
Your Sept. 9 editorial "Elections: Get off the sidelines and vote," was right on the money. Local elections are often decided by a handful of votes. And some are resolved by a flip of a coin.
Your point was that if voters sit on the sidelines, they allow extreme voters at both ends of the political spectrum to decide things. Unfortunately, sitting out elections seems to be fashionable in West Virginia.
Turnout in West Virginia for the 2024 presidential election was only 55.5%, well below the national average of 64%. Turnout in the 2022 midterm election was even worse.
In West Virginia, our House of Delegates is elected every two years. Our next chance to decide who makes our laws is coming up in November. And it's not like we don't have important issues facing our state.
One critical issue is the safety and purity of our drinking water. The drinking water of Ohio Valley residents has often been compromised by careless petrochemical manufacturing and by inadequate state regulation and enforcement.
This is not only a health issue, but also a taxation issue. Local drinking water utilities must spend heavily to filter out industrial chemicals, and our tax money is called upon to pay for it.
But time after time, promising bills that would address these problems die in legislative committee without ever receiving a vote. Just this year, the West Virginia Clean Drinking Water Act of 2026, which would have strengthened drinking water safety and protected public health throughout the state, couldn't even reach the House floor.
We need a change in thinking in the Legislature about clean water, and that means some new delegates who will actually do something about this problem.
My nonpartisan group, Conservation West Virginia, is devoted to electing conservation-minded public officials. There are good conservation candidates running in the Ohio River Valley Delegate districts. They aren't hard to find.
Sitting out elections means our voices don't get heard in Charleston. Anyone can easily fit voting into a busy schedule. Just take advantage of early voting, which runs from Oct. 21 through 31, including some weekend days. Voting is easy and, who knows, your vote may be the one that makes a difference.
Neal Barkus
President
Conservation West Virginia, Inc.