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MORGANTOWN - Monongalia County Clerk Carye Blaney is hopeful that strong participation in early voting is indicative of increased overall turnout in today's general election.
Monongalia County ended the 10-day early voting period with 13,591 ballots cast, meaning 20% of the county's 67,332 registered voters have already made their selections heading into Election Day.
According to information from the clerk's office, there are 13,572 standard ballots to process on Election Day from early voting.
Breaking down early voting participation by party, 6,258 of the early ballots were cast by Democrats, compared to 4,144 from Republicans and 3,170 that were "other" or no party affiliation.
Early votes cast by date were:
Oct. 21: 1,416
Oct. 22: 1,289
Oct. 23: 1,394
Oct. 24: 1,476
Oct. 26: 1,245
Oct. 27: 1,156
Oct. 28: 1,187
Oct. 29: 1,039
Oct. 30: 1,479
Oct. 31: 1,910
Overall, early voting numbers are up significantly from the last midterm election, in 2022, when 10,992 voters took advantage of early voting. Turnout for the 2022 election ended up at just over 43% as 26,834 of the county's 61,806 registered voters participated.
According to The Dominion Post archive, 13,901 early votes were cast in the 2018 midterm. Total turnout for that election was 45.98%.
For those who prefer to cast their ballot on Election Day, polls will be open today from 6:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m.
Unlike early voting, the clerk's office is reminding voters that they must vote in their assigned precinct on Election Day. A list of polling locations can be found on Page A7. They are also available online at monongaliacountyclerk.com or by visiting the "Find Your Polling Place" link at govotewv.com.