A West Virginia county’s officials say 57 uncounted ballots have been found from the 2018 general election, all from one voting machine, so they’re preparing to ask a judge for permission to include them.
Marion County Administrator Kris Cinalli tells The Exponent Telegram officials spent most of Tuesday confirming the lost votes are isolated. They were discovered when county clerk’s office workers were compiling voter information for the secretary of state’s office last week.
The ballots would affect two Fairmont City Council races that coincidentally had tie-breakers determining the outcomes.
County attorney Chuck Shields says a circuit court judge needs to allow that the races be decertified so the ballots can be counted.
Officials aren’t sure what exactly caused the discrepancy. Cinalli says it’s likely a combination of a machine glitch and human error.
When you opened your mailbox, watched television or listened to commercial radio in the lead-up to the election, you and other would-be voters were likely bombarded by political advertisements. Like in elections past, some of those materials were paid for by candidate committees and are easily identified as such. But the sources of the materials from other groups — known as independent expenditures and not authorized by a candidate or a candidate committee — are often more difficult to discern.
Advocates for campaign finance reform say current state law falls short in enabling the public to track who is funding some of these groups in a centralized and uniform manner.
“We have all of these groups that are reporting to the Secretary of State’s office. But I think it is important to note to that these reports don’t tell us a whole lot as to who is behind these groups. Some of these groups don’t disclose who is making contributions and those who do use shell corporations or other means to keep things in the dark,” said Julie Archer of West Virginia Citizens for Clean Elections.
Tracking state-level spending by federally registered groups can be difficult. Some of these groups use loopholes in West Virginia’s campaign financing laws to avoid disclosing donors and expenditures to the Secretary of State’s office. In addition, federal campaign finance law does not require these groups to disclose details regarding the candidates or races they targeted in state-level races.
During the 2018 general election cycle, independent expenditure political action committees registered in West Virginia spent more than $5.4 million to meddle in House of Delegates, Senate and Supreme Court races. That figure only represents expenditures filed with the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office.
Mountain State Values, WV Patriots for Liberty Pushed for Democrats with Union Backing
Union-backed, pro-Democrat groups represent a significant chunk of independent expenditures this election. Mountain State Values focused mostly on House of Delegates races, while WV Patriots for Liberty exclusively targeted state Senate races.
Mountain State Values received more than $1.8 million in total contributions for the 2018 midterms. These donations came mostly from labor-backed political action committees and organizations, including the American Federation of Teachers’ Solidarity fund, the West Virginia state Building & Construction Trades Council, the Mid-Atlantic Laborers Political Education Fund, the West Virginia AFL-CIO, and the AFT-West Virginia Committee on Political Education.
Mountain State Values targeted 18 of the 67 districts in the House of Delegates and on one race in the state Senate — District 17 — by spending money opposing incumbent Tom Takubo and supporting Terrell Ellis. Takubo won the race by more than 4 percentage points.
An ad from Mountain State Values supporting House of Delegates 36th District Democratic candidates Amanda-Estep Burton, Del. Andrew Robinson and Del. Larry Rowe. They all won election in the three-member district.
WV Patriots for Liberty took a similar tactic in fundraising but spent funds differently. The group raised more than $1 million from trade unions, including the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 132, the Engineers Political Education Committee and the West Virginia State Building & Construction Trades Council.
Every bit of $832,561.38 spent by WV Patriots for Liberty went to oppose Republicans running for the state Senate in five districts — Ryan Ferns (District 1), Eric Tarr (District 4), Mark Maynard (District 6) Ed Gaunch (District 8) and Mike Oliverio (District 13).
Ferns, Gauch and Oliverio were defeated; Maynard and Tarr won their races.
Neither group responded to requests for comment about their respective donors and spending.
Former Gubernatorial Hopeful Goodwin Targets House, Senate Races with Re Set West Virginia
Former U.S. Attorney and one-time gubernatorial hopeful Booth Goodwin is listed as director of Re Set West Virginia. Filings by the group list the National Education Association, West Virginia Strong, Inc. and Expanding West Virginia Opportunities as major donors.
The organization focused on the state Senate’s 10th and 17th districts and six races in the House of Delegates — districts 12, 16, 21, 63, 65 and 67. In total, Re Set West Virginia spent $178,337.19 supporting Democrats and opposing Republicans.
Goodwin said his motivation to start the group was to make a push for Democrat candidates from within the state. He also deemed the efforts successful.
“Nearly half of the candidates that Re Set West Virginia endorsed ended up winning — even in some really tough races. We plan to do even better in 2020 in order to put the state’s politics back in the hands of leaders who are not beholden to extreme and out-of-state interests,” Goodwin said.
1863 PAC, Shale Energy Alliance Boosted Republicans, Haven’t Disclosed Donors
Two pro-Republican organizations delved into the 2018 general election but have yet to fully disclose from where their donations came. As a result, they have drawn attention from the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office for those practices.
1863 PAC — which initially sprung up to support Del. Roger Hanshaw’s bid to become House Speaker — spent $281,182.33 in support of Republican House of Delegates candidates and opposed Democratic rivals. However, the group has not listed its donors on filings with the Secretary of State’s office.
Luke Thompson, a New York-based political consultant who serves as executive director of 1863 PAC said the group is in compliance with state campaign finance law.
“1863 PAC received several contributions from several hundred organizations and individuals — from numerous sectors of West Virginia’s economy — who agreed with our mission of protecting the Republican majority in the House of Delegates and protecting the speakership of Roger Hanshaw,” Thompson said.
“No contributions were above six-figures and a majority of contributions were in the three-figure range,” he added.
But public filings don’t specify where that money came from. Less than two weeks before the election the Charleston Gazette Mail reported that the Secretary of State’s office issued a cease and desist order to 1863 PAC, citing no registration as a state or federal political action committee.
Many questions about the group’s origins and efforts have centered around Riley Moore, a Republican delegate from the 67th House District who was ultimately defeated in the 2018 midterms by Democrat John Doyle.
Thompson said the idea for the group came from Moore and Hanshaw. In an interview with West Virginia Public Broadcasting, Moore disputed that characterization, saying the organization’s board created the group and dictated its focus.Hanshaw said he was told of the 1863 PAC’s establishment by Moore and said he had no involvement.
Thompson also said he and Moore coordinated on fundraising efforts, which Moore confirmed.
“I raised money for almost for every Republican that was running this election cycle,” Moore said, “and 1863 was certainly one of those entities supporting Republican candidates. As we’ve seen, there are fewer groups raising money for Republicans as compared to those who support Democrats. As such, I helped raise money for 1863.”
Moore has weaved back and forth on explaining his involvement, affiliation or knowledge of anyone at 1863 PAC. First, he told WVMetroNews he had personal relationships with those involved with the group. Later, the Gazette-Mail reported Moore denied affiliation with 1863 PAC and declined further comment.
“I certainly encouraged somebody like Luke to get involved in West Virginia. He’s been involved in Republican politics throughout the country for a long time,” Moore told West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
Hanshaw recently became House Speaker, putting Moore in line to take over as majority leader at the beginning of the 2019 legislative session. Moore and Thompson both say Moore was not involved in spending decisions made by 1863 PAC, which is in compliance with the state’s campaign finance laws.
“Some of that proof is in the pudding. Riley and [Jill] Upson lost,” said Thompson, noting no specific focus on helping Moore or Hanshaw in their respective races. “We spent for almost every Republican candidate in House races.”
Thompson pointed out that pro-Democratic independent expenditures far outspent those who aimed to help Republicans and, therefore, deemed his group’s efforts successful. He cited losses by Democratic incumbents such as Scott Brewer, Richard Iaquinta, Dana Lynch and Ricky Moye.
“We counterpunched in a year we were supposed to be on defense and the results speak for themselves,” Thompson said.
An ad from 1863 PAC in support of Del. Riley Moore. Moore, who was in line to become the next majority leader, lost to Democrat John Doyle in the 2018 general election.
Thompson noted that 1863 PAC used a targeted texting campaign — known as peer-to-peer or P2P — as part of its strategy. That tactic drew a lawsuit from Jefferson County resident Mariah Norton, who says she was spammed by text messages in support of Moore. Norton and her attorney — former Democratic House of Delegates member Stephen Skinner — say those texts were in violation of Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
The Secretary of State’s office also cited another organization for election engineering activity during this past election cycle: Shale Energy Alliance. The group was also issued a cease and desist order for not registering as a state or federal political action committee.
Republican Del. John Kelly filed a complaint against Shale Energy Alliance, which prompted the cease and desist. According to the Charleston Gazette-Mail, Kelley said the group is funded by natural gas company EQT Corp. and that they targeted him in the May primary for not running legislation the company was supporting. Kelly is the vice chairman of the House Energy Committee.
Shale Energy Alliance spent $69,759.25 supporting Republicans in a handful of races between the House and Senate in the general election.
Representatives of Shale Energy Alliance could not be reached for comment.
West Virginia’s Future PAC Aimed to Keep GOP Majority in State Senate
Republican state Senate hopefuls — and even some off-ballot incumbents — got help this election cycle from a independent expenditure known as West Virginia’s Future PAC. Public filings show the group supported GOP candidates and opposed Democratic rivals.
Notable donors to West Virginia’s Future PAC leading up to the 2018 midterms include Republican Gov. Jim Justice and Cary Communications, a company owned by media mogul and Justice senior advisor Bray Cary. Each contributed $50,000 to the committee.
The Coalition for a Stronger West Virginia gave the group $75,000. The 501(c)(4)’s website states they advocate “much-needed pro-jobs policy improvements that simplify the tax code, reduce the tax burden, balance the state’s budget, end lawsuit abuse, promote a skilled workforce, and rein in regulatory costs.”
Coal company Murray Energy contributed $72,000 and donations from beer distribution companies around the state totaled more than $10,000.
According to expenditures filed with the Secretary of State’s office, West Virginia’s Future PAC offered support to Republican Senate candidates Ryan Ferns (District 1), Eric Tarr (District 4), Ed Gaunch (District 8) and Tom Takubo (District 17).
The committee also spent money to oppose Democrats in those same races, including William Ihlenfeld (District 1), Brian Prim (District 4), Richard Lindsey (District 8), and Terrell Ellis (District 17). They also spent money to oppose Bob Beach (District 13), John Unger (District 16).
Republicans will still hold a majority in the Senate — but based on results in races that West Virginia’s Future PAC targeted and tried to influence, the only Republican winners were Tarr and Takubo.
An attorney representing West Virginia’s Future PAC did not respond to a request for an interview.
National Republican Group Delves into a Handful of Statehouse Races
The Republican State Leadership Committee — a federal 527-organization with no cap on donations or expenditures — spent money on candidates in 12 House of Delegates districts and one contest in the state Senate.
Of the $45 million the group says they spent in the 2018 general election, $150,000 was dedicated to West Virginia statehouse races. RSLC president Matt Walter said that the group targeted those contests in a calculated manner.
“The first thing we do is determine what the macro environment looks like — what the likelihood of races changing and what those target districts are — so narrowing down to where the competitive races are going to be. And then sharing information with the voters of West Virginia to help them understand what the candidate stands for, and how they’ll govern once they get into the state Capitol,” Walter said.
“Depending upon the region of the state — and the composition of the district — we are picking the most convenient and appropriate communications method to share that information with voters,” he added.
Ultimately, the RSLC appears to have been successful in a majority of its efforts.
Supreme Court Special Elections Also See Big Spending from RSLC, Other Groups
While the RSLC focused on a small number of legislative races, the bulk of the group’s spending was directed toward electing prominent Republicans to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals — although seats on the state’s high court have been non-partisan since 2016.
The committee’s Judicial Fairness Initiative spent a total of $1,749,319.98 between former West Virginia House Speaker Tim Armstead and former CongressmanEvan Jenkins in their respective bids for a seat on the court. According to the Secretary of State’s website, both remain registered Republicans.
The RSLC’s spending on the state Supreme Court special elections — which was more than 10 times what they spent on legislative races — was a matter of the breadth of voters they wanted to reach, Walter said.
“When you’re talking about two statewide races with multiple candidates within each of the divisions — and a state with very expensive media costs at a statewide level, given obviously the competitive U.S. Senate race and and all the activity you had during this election — it’s just more expensive to run those statewide races,” Walter explained.
West Virginians for Fair Courts was another group that got involved in the two state Supreme Court races. The group — funded in part by West Virginia Citizens against Lawsuit Abuse and the American Tort Reform Association — supported Armstead, Jenkins and “several candidates.” The group spent $334,702.11 in total. Of that figure, $250,640.11 was spent specifically on Armstead or Jenkins.
Of those expenditures, West Virginians for Fair Courts paid television stations WVVA, WTOV, and WDTV to air a 30-minute program featuring Gov. Jim Justice and his senior advisor Bray Cary. The program, titled Perfect Storm, showed Justice and Cary discussing the effectiveness of Republican policies and boosted Armstead and Jenkins. The video was promoted by and West Virginia Republican Party and was also shared on their Facebook page.
Also notable in the races for Supreme Court, Berkeley County resident William Stubblefield spent $6,639.63 in support of Division 1 candidate Chris Wilkes.
Other Groups Not Listed on the Secretary of State’s Campaign Finance Reporting System
Independent expenditures mentioned thus far in this report show the activity of groups filing with the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office, but there are other groups trying to sway statehouse races that may or may not be registered with the Federal Elections Commission. As a result, no centralized agency can track these disclosures in any uniform way.
For example, the Working Families Party noted in a news release following the 2018 general election that they spent $50,000 supporting Democratic candidates in four West Virginia Senate races and more than two dozen in the House of Delegates.
The director of the West Virginia independent expenditure campaign, Andrew Cockburn, said election officials told him not to bother filing disclosures with the state.
“I knew we had to report to the FEC and [the West Virginia Secretary of State] told me that since I was working with a federal PAC, basically, to get lost. They said they had lots of things to do, and they didn’t need some extra paperwork that was not required under state law,” Cockburn said.
The group is registered as a political committee with the Federal Election Commission and, therefore, is not obligated to detail its financials with the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office.
Another group known to have made independent expenditures in West Virginia statehouse races is Grow WV, Inc, another political committee registered with the Federal Election Commission.
Grow WV Inc. also made independent expenditures in West Virginia statehouse races in 2018, but public filings with the Federal Election Commission from the group do not detail the candidates they targeted. A 2014 investigation by the Sunlight Foundation found that officers with the group also held executive committee positions with the West Virginia Republican Party.
Officials with Grow WV could not be reached for comment.
Election Officials, Campaign Finance Reform Advocates Weigh In
Pushing for more transparency in donor and expenditure disclosures would require action from the Legislature.
Chuck Flannery, the deputy Secretary of State and the office’s general counsel, acknowledged loopholes in state law that prevent independent expenditure disclosures in state-level races from being able to be compiled in a centralized and uniform system.
“The West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office stands prepared to assist the Legislature in addressing campaign finance laws to get disclosure standards uniform for independent expenditures and advocate for the electronic filing of the reports to allow a quicker and more transparent access to the information to the public,” Flannery said.
Julie Archer of West Virginia Citizens for Clean Elections said closing loopholes in state campaign finance law are among the group’s priorities.
“We have been and we will continue to push for increased disclosure and transparency in who is spending money in our elections,” she said.
The Legislature’s next regular session — where many lawmakers who benefited from independent expenditures now have the ability to push for campaign financing reforms — begins Jan. 9.
After falling short in her race for the state legislature, high school history teacher Jenny Urie returned to her central Kentucky classroom, suddenly doubtful of just how far a grassroots uprising to bolster public education could go.
As massive walkouts over teacher salaries and school funding inspired many teachers to run for office, Urie was among at least 36 current and former educators on the ballot for the legislature in Kentucky. Two-thirds of them lost.
“Maybe,” she said, “people are not as concerned about the future of public education as we might have thought they were. Maybe it hasn’t hit them in their homes yet.”
For educators who ran for office in states including Kentucky, Arizona and West Virginia that saw teachers converge on capitols this year, there were some successes but also disappointments. Still, advocates say, the movement will have lasting effects after pushing education onto the agenda of many midterm campaigns.
Many candidates who won held themselves out as champions of public education, and the teachers union will be watching to ensure they live up to their pledges, said Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of the National Education Association.
“Promises were made to the public about commitments to those public school students, and we will be keeping score on who was for kids and who was just kidding, and that is going to make a huge difference in 2020,” she said.
Advocates pointed to bright spots in the election results.
Wisconsin state schools Superintendent Tony Evers ousted Gov. Scott Walker, on whose watch teachers and other public workers lost nearly all collective bargaining power. Connecticut elected 2016 National Teacher of the Year Jahana Hayes to Congress. Democrat Tim Walz, who spent 20 years teaching and coaching high school, won the Minnesota governor’s race, and math teacher Julie Blaha, a Democrat, was elected that state’s auditor.
Also, Arizona voters rejected a Republican-backed measure to expand the state’s private school vouchers program, criticized as a move to drain money from public schools. And several funding measures passed, including a $500 million bond for school safety and water infrastructure in New Jersey and a constitutional amendment in Maryland to require casino revenue be set aside for schools.
The #RedforEd protests, in which teachers clad in red shirts converged on statehouses in conservative states including Oklahoma, had raised hopes of a groundswell of support for candidates who favored increased education spending and teachers who were inspired to run themselves.
Nationwide, polls showed education was not any more of a priority for most voters than in previous years, according to Rick Hess, director of education policy studies at American Enterprise Institute.
“We were awestruck by the energy and the passion that arose in spring. We were awestruck by how successful the teachers were in states like West Virginia, and Oklahoma and Arizona, but if you look simply at the data in terms of what voters were thinking about and saying was a big issue going into the voting booth, there’s little evidence education played a big role,” Hess said Friday during an Educators Writer Association panel discussion at the National Press Club in Washington.
Credit Jesse Wright / WVPB
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WVPB
Teachers hold signs and wave at motorists on Cheat Road on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, outside Morgantown, W.Va.
In West Virginia, where the national movement began with a statewide teachers’ strike in February, teacher Cody Thompson, a Democrat, was elected as a state legislator Tuesday, but at least four other current or retired teachers lost House races. Still, teachers unions declared victory in the ouster of Republican majority leaders they had opposed in the House and Senate.
In Kentucky, teachers rallied against the Republican-dominated legislature for passing bills allowing charter schools and making changes to the state’s retirement system. Protests in the spring shut down schools in more than 30 districts.
Special education teacher Tina Bojanowski was one of at least 10 educators to win seats in the Kentucky Legislature, defeating Republican state Rep. Phil Moffett after campaigning while teaching full time. She was surprised there were not more.
“The whole push for teachers running didn’t pull as many voters over as it did, kind of just public dialogue,” she said.
Urie said a few students told her they were sorry she lost. She said she worries teachers’ poor showing in the election will embolden lawmakers to pass more bills she does not like, but she is optimistic about seeing so many of her friends involved in the political process.
“I know people in my personal life who were never politically active, never really cared about it, that are just like so much more aware of what’s going on,” she said. “We’re all just kind of waiting to see what will happen. We’re ready to respond when it does happen. If it does, we’re ready to go back and fight for what we love.”
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Thompson reported from Buffalo, N.Y. Associated Press writer John Raby in Charleston, W.Va., contributed to this report.
Following Tuesday’s midterm election, Kanawha County election officials have announced that more than 1,700 ballots may have not yet been counted. Technical issues with voting machines could affect vote totals at 20 precincts across the county, including locations in Elkview, Clendenin, Pinch and Kanawha City.
County election officials made the announcement at a Friday news conference.
They say they aren’t yet sure how these potentially uncounted ballots might affect races in the area.
But with the votes in question occurring in statehouse districts with tight races, a final count has the potential to change the outcome in at least two races.
According to vote totals from the Associated Press, Democrat Richard Lindsey is ahead of Republican incumbent Ed Gaunch by 288 votes in the 8th state Senate District. In the House of Delegates’ 36th District, Democrat Amanda Estep-Burton is currently 27 votes ahead of Republican Chris Pritt for the district’s third seat.
County officials say they will hold a meeting at 7 a.m. Tuesday to begin considering next steps.
On this West Virginia Morning, the mid-term election is behind us, but the implications of the election will be with us for some time. So news director Jesse Wright asked long-time West Virginia Morning contributor Dr. Robert Rupp, a professor of history and political science at West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon, to put this election in historical context and talk about what it might mean for the next state legislative session.
Also on today’s show, along the Ohio River, many hope the next phase of the natural gas industry – plastics – will rebuild the region’s manufacturing base. The Allegheny Front’s Julie Grant reports.
West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.
Support for our news bureaus comes from West Virginia University, Concord University, and Shepherd University.
A majority of voters casting midterm election ballots in West Virginia said the country is headed in the right direction, according to a wide-ranging survey of the American electorate.
As voters cast ballots for U.S. Senate and members of Congress in Tuesday’s elections, AP VoteCast found about 6 in 10 West Virginia voters said the country is on the right track, compared with 4 in 10 who said the country is headed in the wrong direction.
Here’s a snapshot of who voted and why in West Virginia, based on preliminary results from AP VoteCast, an innovative nationwide survey of about 135,000 voters and nonvoters — including 2,610 voters and 831 nonvoters in the state of West Virginia — conducted for The Associated Press by NORC at the University of Chicago.
RACE FOR SENATE
In the race for Senate, Democrat Joe Manchin was roughly even with Republican Patrick Morrisey among voters under 45; in addition, those ages 45 and older were split.
Voters with a college education appeared to prefer Manchin. Conversely, voters without a college degree leaned toward Morrisey.
Retired Kanawha County sheriff’s deputy Susie Heilmann said she felt compelled to vote because “so many wonderful people gave their lives for the privilege to come here and cast my ballot.” A Republican, Heilmann praised Manchin for his vote to affirm the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, but when it came down to supporting Manchin at the ballot box, “I just couldn’t.”
Manchin, a former governor, was seeking a second full Senate term representing a state that supported Donald Trump for president by 42 percentage points in 2016. Morrisey is a two-term state attorney general and staunch Trump supporter.
Manchin has made maintaining health care protections for pre-existing conditions a major focus of his campaign and has hit Morrisey for joining a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. Morrisey calls Manchin a liberal who only acts bipartisan around Election Day.
TOP ISSUES
Voters considered several issues to be important this midterm election, including the economy, immigration and health care by about a quarter of voters for each. About 1 in 10 cited terrorism as important, followed by the environment (1 in 10) and the environment (1 in 20).
Roger Malcomb of Alum Creek, who suffers from black lung disease, said he wants to see Congress tackle health care next year. He said the government should be responsible for making health care available to all Americans because they’ve paid taxes their entire lives for it.
“If I go for an MRI, it costs me $1,000. And my medication stuff for my lungs, everything runs about $500 a month,” Malcomb said. “I’ve got to pay that out of my own pocket. There is no such thing as health care anymore.”
Malcomb said he typically votes a straight Democratic ticket. This year, “I voted for the person. I didn’t for politics, Democrats or Republicans,” he said.
STATE OF THE ECONOMY
Voters have a positive view of the nation’s current economic outlook — two-thirds said the nation’s economy is good, compared with one-third who said it is not good.
TRUMP FACTOR
For roughly 4 in 10 West Virginia voters, Trump was not a factor they considered while casting their vote. By comparison, 6 in 10 said Trump was a reason for their vote.
Retiree Larry Linch of Clarksburg called Trump “a national embarrassment.”
“Every day we wake up and turn on the news to see what stupidness he’s done that day, or is trying to do,” Linch said.
Linch said Trump was a main factor in his voting decisions.
“I picked each one individually, but they all had a ‘D’ by them,” he said.
CONTROL OF CONGRESS
Tuesday’s elections will determine control of Congress in the final two years of Trump’s first term in office, and more than two-thirds of West Virginia voters said which party will hold control was very important as they considered their vote. Some 1 in 5 said it was somewhat important.
Democrat Richard Ojeda, a retired Army paratrooper known for his tattoos and populist message, looked to break through Republican dominance in West Virginia in a showdown with a fellow state lawmaker for an open congressional seat.
Standing in his way was Carol Miller, a member of the GOP leadership team in the West Virginia House of Delegates.
STAYING AT HOME
In West Virginia, 7 in 10 registered voters who chose not to vote in the midterm election were younger than 45. A wide share of those who did not vote — 9 in 10 percent — did not have a college degree. More nonvoters were Republicans (4 in 10) than Democrats (2 in 10).
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AP VoteCast is a survey of the American electorate in all 50 states conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago for The Associated Press and Fox News. The survey of 2,610 voters and 831 nonvoters in West Virginia was conducted Oct. 29 to Nov. 6, concluding as polls close on Election Day. It combines interviews in English or Spanish with a random sample of registered voters drawn from state voter files and self-identified registered voters selected from opt-in online panels. Participants in the probability-based portion of the survey were contacted by phone and mail, and had the opportunity to take the survey by phone or online. The margin of sampling error for voters is estimated to be plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. All surveys are subject to multiple sources of error, including from sampling, question wording and order, and nonresponse. Find more details about AP VoteCast’s methodology at http://www.ap.org/votecast.
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Associated Press Writer John Raby contributed to this report from Charleston, West Virginia.
