Polarization, Property Costs, School Funding Are Key Concerns For Eastern Panhandle Voters

The Nov. 5 general election is just a few days away. As the state prepares for Election Day, a growing number of West Virginians have already cast their ballots at local early voting sites.

As of Thursday, that included more than 33,000 residents of Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan counties, according to the most recent preliminary data available through the secretary of state’s office.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting traveled to early voting locations in each of the three counties and spoke with roughly one dozen residents. Across the board, the Eastern Panhandle early voters agreed this year’s election is important, but differed in their reasoning why.

Partisan Divides

Democratic voters like Maria Beckman, a resident of the Jefferson County town of Bolivar, worry about growing political polarization in the United States today.

She said there can be “societal pressure” to vote red in West Virginia, but that the success of the Democratic Party during this year’s election is key to the “future of democracy.”

We asked Eastern Panhandle voters:

What’s the biggest issue on your mind this election?

“The character of the Republican presidential candidate is at issue here. I think to support him means we’ve lost our soul,” Beckman said. “I want to cast a vote against tyranny and dictatorship, and for somebody who is hopeful and intelligent. By that, I mean I want to support Kamala Harris.”

Janel Clement, a contractor from Hedgesville, was registered as a Republican earlier in life. But today she votes as a Democrat, and said she hardly recognizes the party she left behind.

For her, protecting democracy means “free and fair elections,” “people who accept the results of the election” and “no riots at the Capitol or otherwise.” She wants to see those values reflected in the candidate she votes for, too.

“It is basic and fundamental to the office of the presidency: Respect the Constitution,” Clement said.

Regardless of party, most early voters who spoke to West Virginia Public Broadcasting agreed that recent partisan divides have made politics more contentious.

But Republican voters like Frank DeStefano of Charles Town say they feel alienated by messaging from the Democratic Party.

DeStefano waited outside the Jefferson County Courthouse annex this week alongside his son Arthur, also a Republican voter. DeStefano said Democratic politicians portray Republicans and moderates in an unfair light.

“It’s just, the situation is so bad now,” he said. “When you start bullying one team and calling them Hitler and calling them all kinds of – that’s not helping me.”

Many early voters agreed that their votes this year would be influenced by national political conversations. Clement said she was “not really interested in local elections this year,” but that divisions between the two major parties led her to “just vote straight D.”

“I don’t trust Republicans anymore,” she said.

Local Issues

Most early voters who spoke to West Virginia Public Broadcasting agreed that they felt more informed about national issues than local candidates or statewide ballot measures. But some said particular issues affecting the local community were top of mind this election season.

Arthur DeStefano said high property taxes and cost of living in the Eastern Panhandle have pushed him toward fiscal conservatism and candidates on the right.

We asked Eastern Panhandle voters:

What brought you to the polls today?

“I work three jobs just to be able to pay our bills, and our bills are still skyrocketing,” he said.

Other residents expressed concerns over government spending, too. Richard Urban of Shannondale, picketed near the Jefferson County Courthouse to discourage early voters from supporting a local amendment that would increase school funding by increasing a levy on real estate and personal property taxes in the county.

“There’s very little accountability for where the money goes, and it keeps rising because there’s no cap,” he said.

Urban self-identified as an independent voter. But he wore a Make America Great Again hat while picketing, and said his views often align with candidates on the right.

Between local and national elections, Urban said he would vote for candidates who represent fiscal conservatism, freedom of speech, gun rights and vaccine choice.

For him, this included Sen. Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, who is currently facing a Democratic challenge from former state lawmaker John Doyle in the state’s easternmost West Virginia Senate district.

“In other words, less government and more personal responsibility and freedom,” he said.

But Jefferson County Democratic voters like Beckman view the local election from a different angle. Beckman said Rucker is a “fine person,” but that Doyle “has the right policy positions” to earn her vote this year.

Doyle “will support most everyday West Virginians, like me,” she said.

Beckman also said she is in favor of increasing the local school levy to add more funding to the county’s public school system. Ultimately, she said the success of ballot measures and policies like these lie in the hands of local Democratic leadership.

“It’s up to the Democratic Party to show those voters that Democratic party platforms actually do support West Virginians,” she said. “I hope I do see that in my lifetime.”

As of Oct. 31, nearly 245,000 West Virginians had cast their votes through early voting, and nearly 20,000 had returned absentee ballots, according to preliminary data from the secretary of state’s office.

With the Nov. 5 general election fast approaching, that means nearly 950,000 registered voters in the state are left to vote, across the Eastern Panhandle and beyond.

For more information on voting in West Virginia, visit the secretary of state’s voter dashboard at GoVoteWV.com.