Tuesday’s Voter Turnout Dips From Last Midterm Election

Despite more West Virginians being registered to vote for the 2026 general election, fewer of them went to the polls Tuesday compared to the last midterm election.  

Of West Virginia’s 1.2 million registered voters, 463,912, or 38%, participated in this year’s election. That’s compared to 494,753 voters, or 43%, of 1.15 million registered voters during the 2022 midterm election.   

The 2024 general election – with a high-profile presidential race on the ballot  – brought out 770,587 West Virginia voters.  

As the state’s most populous county, Kanawha County saw a state-high of 48,729 voters at the polls. But that only represents 40% of the county’s total voter registration of 121,002.  

Wirt County sent the most voters per capita to the polls, with 54% of the county’s total 3,483 registered voters taking part. Tucker County was second in the state with just over 50% of its 5,187 voters casting a ballot.  

McDowell County had the lowest participation in this year’s election with 21.9% of its 11,729 voters turning out.