West Virginia

WEST VIRGINIA

5 Electoral Votes

Population
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau, West Virginia Secretary of State)

Total Population, July 1, 2008 est.	1,814,468
Total Registration, Nov. 2008	1,212,117

Dem. 675,305 (55.71%) Rep. 353,437 (29.16%) Mtn. 973 (0.08%) Nonpart. 167,111 (13.79%) Other 15,291 (1.26%)
West Virginia has: 55 counties.
Largest counties: Kanawha, Cabell, Wood, Monongalia, Raleigh. >
Government
Governor: Joe Manchin III (D) elected in 2004. ...up for re-election in 2008
State Legislature: West Virginia Legislature House: 100 seats Senate: 34 seats
Local: Counties NACO Counties
U.S. House: 2D,1R- 1. A.Mollohan, Jr (D) | 2. S.M.Capito (R) | 3. N.J.Rahall III (D).
U.S. Senate: Jay Rockefeller (D) up for re-election in 2008, Robert C. Byrd (D) re-elected in 2006.

2008 update

Governor: In the gubernatorial race Gov. Joe Manchin (D) garnered 69.82% of the vote, easily defeating former State Sen. Russ Weeks (R) and Jesse Johnson (M). Democrats also swept the other statewide offices.
U.S. Senate: Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D) easily defeated Jay Wolfe (R), who also ran against him in 2002.
U.S. House: All three U.S. House members were re-elected; the closest race occurred in the 2nd CD, where Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R) defeated Elizabeth Anne Barth (D) by 57.07% to 42.93%. In the 1st CD, Rep. Alan Mollohan (D) ran unopposed. MORE

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
Charleston Daily Mail
Newspapers
TV, Radio

Politics1-WV

The Mountain State

General Election -- Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Voting Eligible Population*: 1,409,823.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 50.6%.

Total Registration: 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.

Official Results>
+McCain/Palin (Rep.)	397,466	55.72
Obama/Biden (Dem.)	303,857	42.60
Nader/Gonzalez (U)	7,219	1.01
Baldwin/Castle (C)	2,465	0.35
McKinney/Clemente (Mtn.)	2,355	0.33
Total........713,362

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

Republicans: Presidential Convention -- Tuesday, February 5, 2007 / Primary -- Tuesday, May 13, 2007
Democrats: Presidential Preference Primary -- Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Registration, April 25, 2008: Rep. 347,760 (29.38%) Dem. 665,234 (56.21%) Mountain 931 (0.08%) No Party 156,199 (13.20%) Other 13,371 (1.13%) Total 1,183,495.

"for the first time, independent voters and voters who marked 'no party affiliation' on their voter registration form will be able to vote in the Republican or the Democrat or the
Mountain Party’s Primary, May 13th. These voters must ask for the Republican, the Democrat or the Mountain Party’s ballot when they cast their vote." -Feb. 1, 2008 press release from the Secretary of State

Filing Requirements for the Primary: January 14-26, 2008 - File statement of candidacy with the Secretary of State and pay $2,500 filing fee. There is an alternative petition process.

Democrats
39 Delegates (28 Pledged and 11 Unpledged) and 5 Alternates. >
0.96% of the 4,049 Delegate Votes. 0.92% of the 4,234 Delegate Votes.

Clinton | Obama
May 13: Clinton | Obama

Official Results

+Hillary Clinton	240,890	66.93%
Barack Obama	92,736	25.77%
John Edwards	26,284	7.30%
Total	359,910

reaction

Note: West Virginia Democrats were among the 10 states and DC that applied to the DNC in April 2006 to hold an early caucus; however the DNC selected Nevada and South Carolina to go early.

Republicans
30 Delegates: 3 RNC; 18 at-large; 9 by CD (3 x 3 CDs).
1.26% of the 2,380 Delegates.

Over 1,000 delegates participated in a State Presidential Convention held on Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008 at the Charleston Civic Center. The Convention selected West Virginia's 18 at-large delegates under a winner-take-all allocation. No candidate received a majority in the first round; Huckabee won in the second round. (details, reactions) The nine district delegates were elected in the May 13, 2008 primary election.

Huckabee | McCain | Paul | Romney
Former: F.Thompson

Official Results

+John McCain	90,469	76.01%
Mike Huckabee	12,260	10.30%
Ron Paul	6,000	5.04%
Mitt Romney	5,242	4.40%
Rudy Giuliani	2,875	2.42%
Alan Keyes	1,441	1.21%
Jerry Curry	728	0.61%
Total	119,015

General Election -- Tuesday, November 2, 2004

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.

Official Results
Kerry/Edwards (Dem.)	326,541	(43.21)
Nader/Camejo (Ind).	4,063	(0.54)
Badnarik/Campagna (Lib.)	1,405	(0.19)
+Bush/Cheney (Rep.)	423,778	(56.07)
Write Ins (2)	5	-
Total........755,792

Write Ins: Lawson Mitchell Bone (0), David Cobb (5)

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

Legislation adopted in 2001 provided for early in-person voting. From 20 days before election to three days before election "any voter may walk into their local county or circuit clerk’s office, depending upon where they live, and vote absentee with 'no excuse.'”

General Election -- Tuesday, November 7, 2000

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.

Official Results
Gore/Lieberman (Dem.)	295,497	(45.59)
+Bush/Cheney (Rep.)	336,475	(51.92)
Browne/Olivier (Lib.)	1,912	(0.30)
Hagelin/Goldhaber(NLP)	367	(0.06)
Buchanan/Foster (Ref.)	3,169	(0.49)
Nader/LaDuke (Grn.)	10,680	(1.65)
Earnest Lee Easton (w/in)	0	-
Howard Phillips (w/in)	23	-
Gloria Dawn Strickland (w)	1	-
Total........648,124

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

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.

1992 and 1996 General Elections

1992

Clinton (Dem.)........331,001	(48.41)
Bush (Rep.)...........241,974	(35.39)
Perot (Ind.).............108,829	(15.92)
Browne (Lib.).............1,907	(0.28)
Total........683,711

1996

Clinton (Dem.)........327,812	(51.51)
Dole (Rep.)............233,946	(36.76)
Perot (Ref.)..............71,639	(11.26)
Browne (Lib.).............3,062	(0.48)
Total........636,459

2004 page >
2000 page >