And we thought coping with five Mondays in December was a grind.
Next week, it all begins on Monday and lasts until 11:59 p.m. Jan. 25.
That is, the candidate filing period in West Virginia for all public offices in the 2020 election cycle.
As for the ensuing May 12 primary and Nov. 4 general elections’ dates and deadlines there are any number of them to look forward to or dread, depending on your perspective.
But in the spirit of all things Election 2020, these looming ballots are already making news and we encourage voters to tune in now.
Two recent notable items emerging from the secretary of state’s office should get your attention and hold it for awhile.
In one report, new voter registration numbers by party and without party affiliation paint an abstract picture of West Virginia’s electorate.
Democrats have seen increasing fallout from the 2016 election with a 14.5% drop in registration since then, yet Republicans have only seen a 3.2% gain.
Independents without a party affiliation have experienced a 4.4 jump since then.
Meanwhile, the overall number of registered voters in West Virginia was 1.225 million at the end of December, down 4% from 1.277 million in November 2016.
Most of these declines can be explained by the continuing exodus from our state for seven straight years, with more than 12,000 people moving out in 2019.
This year’s elections also come amid a yearlong commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.
Following its congressional passage in June 1919, West Virginia became the 34th state to ratify it in March 1920.
That amendment would become the law of the land in 1920, enfranchising 26 million women in time to vote in 1920’s presidential election.
State events get underway Wednesday with a reception attended by women wearing early-1900s-style fashions before the governor’s State of the State Address.
It’s almost surreal to think the overwhelming majority of women were disenfranchised by election laws until then.
Some argue modern efforts to clean up voter rolls, implement voter ID laws, reduce early voting days and widespread labeling of provisional ballots are akin to those days.
Often shrouded in glowing phrases such as “anti-voter fraud” and “vote security,” such measures often serve to only suppress turnout in elections, while there is little to no evidence of organized voter fraud anywhere.
Though some might include the increasing use of change-of-address mailings from the secretary of state’s office in this mix, these mailings are valid.
These postcards are certainly not a scam and anyone receiving such a postcard should respond to it immediately.
The best news for now is elections still occur on Tuesdays.
