| WEST VIRGINIA | 5
Electoral Votes |
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| Population (Source: U.S. Census Bureau, West Virginia Secretary of State)
West Virginia has: 55 counties. Largest counties: Kanawha, Berkeley, Monongalia, Cabell, Wood, Raleigh. > Government Governor: Earl Ray Tomblin (D) sworn in Nov. 2010 succeeding Gov. Joe Manchin; elected special general election Oct. 4, 2011. State Legislature: West Virginia Legislature House: 100 seats Senate: 34 seats Local: Counties NACO Counties U.S. House: 2R,1D- 1. D.McKinley (R) | 2. S.M.Capito (R) | 3. N.J.Rahall III (D). U.S. Senate: Jay Rockefeller (D) re-elected in 2008, Joe Manchin (D) elected Nov. 2010 to complete Byrd term; re-elected in 2012.
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State
of West Virginia Secretary of State Libertarian Party of WV Constitution Party-WV WV Democratic Party WV Mountain Party (Green aff.) WV Republican State Comm. Charleston
Gazette, p  The Mountain State |
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| Voting Eligible
Population*: 1,447,153. VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 46.3%. Voter Registration Deadline: October 16, 2012. Early Voting: In county courthouses; begins thirteen days before the election and continues until three days before the election. Early In-Person and Absentee By-Mail Voting: 163,206. ballot access note |
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Overview: The Romney/Ryan ticket easily carried West
Virginia, gaining a plurality of 179,386 votes (26.76 percentage
points). Coal was a big issue. There were a handful of
visits. Mitt Romney attended a fundraiser in Wheeling on May 3
and Ann Romney attended a fundraiser in Charleston on July 19.
Green VP nominee
Cheri Honkala visited on Oct. 14. President Obama has never fared
well in this state. In the May 8 Democratic primary he ceded over
40% of
the vote to a Texas prison inmate. In the 2008 general election he lost to
John McCain
by 55.7% to 42.6%, and in the May 13, 2008 Democratic
primary he lost to Hillary Clinton
by a margin of 66.9% to 25.8%. Obama | (Romney) BALLOT [PDF] |
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| Democrats Official Results
Texarkana, Texas. |
Republicans
31 Delegates: 3 RNC; 19 at-large; 9 by CD (3 x 3 CDs). 1.35% of the 2,286 Delegates. Official Results +
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| Voting Eligible
Population*: 1,409,823. VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 50.6%. Voter Registration: Dem. 675,305 (55.71%) Rep. 353,437 (29.16%) Mtn. 973 (0.08%) Nonpart. 167,111 (13.79%) Other 15,291 (1.26%) ...Total 1,212,117. Early voting in person at county clerk's office Oct. 15-Nov. 1, 2008. "Approximately 154,000 voters took advantage of no-excuse early voting." > Deadline to register: Oct. 14, 2008. |
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2008
Overview Despite the drubbing Obama received in the May 13 primary, his campaign did make an effort here. However, when the votes were counted the McCain-Palin ticket prevailed by a plurality of 93,609 votes (13.12 percentage points), carrying 48 counties to seven for Obama-Biden. General Election Details Obama/Allies | McCain/Allies | Nader | More |
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| Voting Eligible
Population*: 1,396,545. VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 54.1%. Voter Registration: Dem. 680,464 (58.22%), Rep. 349,193 (29.88%), Mtn 637 (0.05%), Non-Part. 128,994 (11.04%), Other 9,406 (0.80%) Total: 1,168,694. Early in-person voting began Oct. 13, 2004. Deadline to register: Oct. 13, 2004. |
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2004
Overview Both campaigns put significant resources into West Virginia. September saw considerable activity by the candidates, but in October visits dwindled markedly. Bush carried 46 counties to Kerry's 9 and ended up more than doubling his 2000 plurality to 97,237 votes (12.86 percentage points). Over 107,000 more people voted in the presidential race in 2004 as compared to 2000; registration in 2004 was a bit over 100,000 more than in 2000. General Election Details Kerry/Allies | Bush-Cheney '04 |
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| Voting Eligible
Population*: 1,390,365. VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 46.6%. Voter Registration: Dem. 658,945 (61.79%), Rep. 309,528 (29.03%), Lib 964, Indep. and Other 96,912 (9.09%) Total: 1,066,349. |
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2000
Overview Bush carried this reliably Democratic state despite a two-to-one registration advantage for Democrats. The Bush-Cheney ticket won with a plurality of 40,978 votes (6.33 percentage points). Bush carried 42 counties to Gore's 13. Concerns among coal miners about Gore's environmental positions, among steel workers about foreign dumping, and among gun owners hurt the Vice President. In the open second congressional district race, Republican Shelley Moore Capito picked up a seat despite running against the top spending House candidate in the country, Jim Humphries ($6.9 million). General Election Activity |
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| Notes: West Virginia has three official parties: the Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians. On April 7, 1999 Gov. Underwood signed SB 591 into law, making ballot access markedly more difficult for minor party and independent candidates by increasing the required number of signatures from one percent of votes cast in the last election to two percent. 6,365 signatures were required before June 11, 1999 and 12, 730 after. The Natural Law Party successfully petitioned to get on the ballot in 1999. The Reform Party submitted petitions on August 1, 2000 containing 14,871 valid signatures, 2,141 more than required. Nader supporters turned in 7,111 valid signatures, short of the number required, but the Nader campaign went to court, and the Green Party made the ballot as a result of a Sept. 15, 2000 decision by Judge Charles H. Haden, II of the U.S. District Court, Southern District of West Virginia. |
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| Copyright © 2002-13 Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action. |
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