In lead up to Election Day, Republicans heavily outpaced Democrats for in-person early voting in WV

An early voting sign sits outside of the Girl Scouts of Black Diamond Council building at 321 Virginia St. W in Charleston, W.Va., on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (Leann Ray
| West Virginia Watch)

More than a quarter of registered voters in West Virginia cast their ballots for the general election in person during the early voting period, according to data from the Secretary of State’s Office.

Per the data — which includes all ballots cast in person through Saturday, the last day of early voting — more than 310,400 West Virginians voted in the weeks and days leading up to Election Day, which is Tuesday. The early voting data is preliminary and could change once results are finalized by county clerks and the Secretary of State’s Office.

Nearly half of the state’s in-person early voters — about 46% of them — are registered as Republicans. Almost 30% of early votes cast in person were by Democrats and about 19% were from independents. 

Monongalia County saw the highest rate of early voter turnout of all 55 counties in the state, with 37% of registered voters there voting before Election Day, according to the data. Of those voters, about 39% were Democrats, nearly 37% were Republicans and 22% were independents.

McDowell County had the lowest turnout in the state for early voting, with just 815 people — about 7% of all registered voters in the county — casting their ballots before Election Day.

Statewide, 19 counties had more than half of their early in-person votes cast by registered Republicans. Alternatively, the highest turnout rate for Democrats came in McDowell County, where nearly 47% of people who voted early in person were registered as Democrats.

The highest turnout rate for Republicans came in Grant County, where nearly 77% of all in-person early voters were registered Republicans. The lowest turnout rate for Republicans was in McDowell County, where about 27% of early voters were Republicans.

For independent voters, turnout rates were highest in Jefferson County, where about 28% of those who voted early in person were not registered with a party. Pocahontas, Hardy and Morgan counties followed Jefferson, with about 26% of their early in-person voting coming from unaffiliated voters, according to the data.

Absentee voting

The above early voting data does not include those who voted by mail with absentee ballots. In West Virginia, only certain people are eligible to vote by mail, including those who are away on military duty or travel, first responders unable to vote in-person because of emergency calls and people who have mobility issues or illness, as well as people confined in jails who have not been convicted of a crime. 

According to the Secretary of State, about 26,300 absentee ballots were requested for the general election, equating to a little over 2% of all registered voters in the state. 

To date, 82% of those who requested absentee ballots have returned them. The last day to return an absentee ballot was Monday, meaning the return rate could grow as counties report more to the Secretary of State’s Office.

Of the ballots returned as of Monday, nearly 44% were from Democrats while 37% came from Republicans. Independent voters accounted for about 15% of all absentee ballots so far returned to the state.

Absentee voting was most common in Calhoun County, according to the data, where nearly 6% of registered voters so far have returned absentee ballots to their county clerk. 

Polls are open for the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 5 from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. To find your polling location, check your registration, view a sample ballot and more, visit https://sos.wv.gov/elections/Pages/GoVoteWV.aspx. 

West Virginia Watch will be covering Tuesday’s election in full. Check out our 2024 general election voter guide before casting your ballot to learn more about the candidates and the positions they’re running for. 

Be sure to bookmark and follow our Decision 2024 page for updates and results throughout Tuesday and in following days.