Voting in today's primary appeared to be running smoothly, with voters and election officials seeing few of the problems that plagued the May 2006 primary.
Voting in today's primary appeared to be running smoothly, with voters and election officials seeing few of the problems that plagued the May 2006 primary.
New voting systems were installed two years ago to comply with the federal Help America Vote Act, but several counties then had trouble setting up and operating the equipment.
Voters come and go from a polling location at Chamberland Elementary in Charleston on Tuesday.
"It has continued to go smoothly,'' said Jason Williams, manager of the Secretary of State elections division. "As of right now, we have not had any reports of major issues in reference to voting machines, poll workers or anything like that.''
A few counties reported poll workers showing up late -- or not at all -- forcing some precincts to delay their openings.
One precinct in Fayette County was operating on a backup generator today, two days after severe storms knocked out power in parts of the state. County Clerk Kelvin Holliday said no problems were reported there.
Voter turnout was steady in many areas, including Kanawha County, home to the state Capitol.
"It's running like most presidential elections. We're usually pretty busy,'' Kanawha County Clerk Vera McCormick said. "We're the swing state and everybody's very excited about that. There's history in the making this year. We're excited about it and most of the voters in Kanawha County are excited and are wanting to get out and vote.''
McCormick said there were minor incidents involving workers from the campaigns for Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. A Clinton campaign worker walked into a precinct hoping to get vote totals, while an Obama worker attempted to leave campaign brochures at a precinct. State law bans campaigning within 300 feet of polling places. Besides, vote counting doesn't begin until after the polls close at 7:30 p.m.
Much of the attention is on the presidential race, but the Democrats' primary ballot also features contested races for governor, state Supreme Court and secretary of state.
One Senate seat, the 2nd Congressional District and numerous legislative races are also on the ballot.
A zoning issue contributed to solid turnout in Berkeley County.
"The voting must be pretty good because we have some lines at our precincts,'' said Bonnie Woodfall, the county's chief deputy of elections.
This is the first time the Democratic Party has invited unaffiliated or nonpartisan voters into its primary. But Woodfall said some confused independent voters asked for nonpartisan ballots that include the local school board race, but no statewide and national offices.
"They're getting highly upset about that. There's not a lot we can do,'' Woodfall said. "It's the voters' responsibility to know what's available.''
Voting in today's primary appeared to be running smoothly, with voters and election officials seeing few of the problems that plagued the May 2006 primary.
New voting systems were installed two years ago to comply with the federal Help America Vote Act, but several counties then had trouble setting up and operating the equipment.
Not this year.
"It has continued to go smoothly,'' said Jason Williams, manager of the Secretary of State elections division. "As of right now, we have not had any reports of major issues in reference to voting machines, poll workers or anything like that.''
A few counties reported poll workers showing up late -- or not at all -- forcing some precincts to delay their openings.
One precinct in Fayette County was operating on a backup generator today, two days after severe storms knocked out power in parts of the state. County Clerk Kelvin Holliday said no problems were reported there.
Voter turnout was steady in many areas, including Kanawha County, home to the state Capitol.
"It's running like most presidential elections. We're usually pretty busy,'' Kanawha County Clerk Vera McCormick said. "We're the swing state and everybody's very excited about that. There's history in the making this year. We're excited about it and most of the voters in Kanawha County are excited and are wanting to get out and vote.''
McCormick said there were minor incidents involving workers from the campaigns for Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. A Clinton campaign worker walked into a precinct hoping to get vote totals, while an Obama worker attempted to leave campaign brochures at a precinct. State law bans campaigning within 300 feet of polling places. Besides, vote counting doesn't begin until after the polls close at 7:30 p.m.
Much of the attention is on the presidential race, but the Democrats' primary ballot also features contested races for governor, state Supreme Court and secretary of state.
One Senate seat, the 2nd Congressional District and numerous legislative races are also on the ballot.
A zoning issue contributed to solid turnout in Berkeley County.
"The voting must be pretty good because we have some lines at our precincts,'' said Bonnie Woodfall, the county's chief deputy of elections.
This is the first time the Democratic Party has invited unaffiliated or nonpartisan voters into its primary. But Woodfall said some confused independent voters asked for nonpartisan ballots that include the local school board race, but no statewide and national offices.
"They're getting highly upset about that. There's not a lot we can do,'' Woodfall said. "It's the voters' responsibility to know what's available.''
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WASHINGTON - President-elect Obama plans to use his executive powers to make an immediate impact when he takes office, perhaps reversing Bush administration policies on stem cell research and domestic drilling for oil and natural gas.
WASHINGTON - Nearly 8,000 jobs waiting to be filled. Empty file drawers. Missing computer hard drives. Even furniture piled in the hallways.Talk about a startup.The most powerful office in the world has less than three months to come into being, essentially from scratch.
CHICAGO - President-elect Obama spoke to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday as the future American leader had another round of phone calls with counterparts in other nations.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Jammed ballot boxes, a power outage and confusion over polling places were among early Election Day problems reported in Kanawha County, County Clerk Vera McCormick said this afternoon.
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Barack Obama and John McCain uncorked massive get-out-the-vote operations in more than a dozen battleground states Sunday, millions of telephone calls, mailings and door-knockings in a frenzied, fitting climax to a record-shattering $1 billion campaign. Together, they'll spend about $8 per presidential vote.
In the closing hours of a contentious campaign, Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., debated her Democratic opponent, Anne Barth, for half an hour at WSAZ-TV's studio on Saturday.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - The low profile of Republican Marty Gearheart's underfunded campaign to unseat Democrat Nick Rahall masks stark philosophical differences between the 3rd Congressional District candidates.
SPRINGFIELD, Va. - Warmed by the cheers of thousands, John McCain and Barack Obama plunged through the final weekend of their marathon race for the White House, the Republican digging for an upset while his confident-sounding rival told supporters, "We can change this country."
Last year, West Virginia received $215 million in federal earmarks, funding requests inserted into bills by members of Congress. But if Sen. John McCain is elected president next month, most of those earmarks could disappear.
Hard to say which came as more of a surprise last week: That West Virginia's economic growth is outpacing the rest of the nation, or that the West Virginia Education Association failed to endorse Gov. Joe Manchin for re-election.
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Barack Obama is playing it safe. Leading in polls with 25 days to Election Day, the Democratic nominee is offering careful proposals to address the economic crisis while letting allies respond to John McCain's sharpest charges.
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