West Virginia voters, just like voters across the country, are anxious to cast their ballots.
Lines formed at some polling places in West Virginia Wednesday, the first day for early voting.
In Kanawha County, the line to early vote wrapped around the voter registration office. “I have been coming down here for early voting to this location for five years,” Connie Perry told MetroNews. “This is the longest (line) I have seen for early voting, ever.”
In Berkeley County, the line for early voting started forming at 5:45 Wednesday morning, more than two hours before the polling place opened. The line continued throughout the day with up to a two-hour wait.
Other states with early voting are also reporting lines, as well as high levels of absentee voting and voting by mail. “Early voting counts suggest a record level of civic participation before Election Day,” reported the Washington Post.
“The tens of millions of ballots already cast show highly enthusiastic voters are making sure their votes are counted during a pandemic,” according to the paper. At least 21 million people have already voted, just in the battleground states.
Back in West Virginia, absentee ballots have been pouring into county clerk offices. The Secretary of State’s Office reported that as of Wednesday, nearly 96,000 ballots had been cast via absentee. In Kanawha County, nearly 14,000 absentee ballots had already been returned.
The presidential race has driven passions to near, or in some cases to, the boiling point. Donald Trump and Joe Biden voters are anxious to make their mark for their candidate.
Also, nearly all voters have already made up their minds. An NPR/Marist University Poll released a few days ago found that only 2% of likely voters were unsure who they would vote for and only 5% said they could be persuaded to change their opinion for president.
The same holds true in West Virginia. The MetroNews West Virginia Poll showed that only 3% of likely voters were unsure of who to vote for. Our poll found that voters here have already made up their minds about the governor’s race as well, with just 6% answering that they are not sure.
The passion for either Trump or Biden and the sown mistrust of voting-by-mail are clearly driving the early in-person voting, but I suspect there is also a fatigue factor among some voters. This has been a long, long campaign that has dominated the news cycle for months. How could voters not tire of it?
A Pew Research Center survey last February found that two-thirds of Americans say they are worn out by the amount of news there is. The survey was not specifically about politics, but much of the news is about politics.
Voting early — whether in person or by mail — allows an individual to say, “I’ve done my duty and now I can tune it out until election night.”
Philosophers like to talk about the importance of “the journey” rather than “the destination.” That may be a good life lesson, but when it comes to political campaigns, at some point you just want to get to the end.
Hoppy Kercheval is a MetroNews anchor and the longtime host of “Talkline.” Contact him at hoppy.kercheval@wvradio.com.
