On this West Virginia Week, Jim Justice, the state’s two-term Republican governor, won a decisive victory in the race for the U.S. Senate in Tuesday’s general election. Patrick Morrisey, West Virginia’s three-term attorney general, won the governorship, continuing a conservative shift in state leadership.
Meanwhile, parts of West Virginia have been experiencing drought conditions, with the Department of Forestry fighting 82 wildfires in the southern coalfields this week. Also, West Virginians can apply for assistance covering home heating costs for the upcoming winter months.
Emily Rice is our host this week. Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert.
West Virginia Week is a web-only podcast that explores the week’s biggest news in the Mountain State. It’s produced with help from Bill Lynch, Briana Heaney, Caelan Bailey, Chris Schulz, Curtis Tate, Emily Rice, Eric Douglas, Jack Walker, Liz McCormick, Maria Young and Randy Yohe.
West Virginia Public Broadcasting has compiled a summary of laws and policies voters must follow on Election Day.
Residents are already heading to their local polling stations to vote in the leadup to this year’s Nov. 5 general election.
To protect the integrity of the electoral process, certain forms of conduct are allowed and disallowed at the polls, according to Mike Queen, deputy chief of staff to West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner.
West Virginia Public Broadcasting has compiled a summary of laws and policies voters must follow on Election Day.
Voter Identification
Since 2018, West Virginia has enforced a voter identification law, where voters must present some form of identification to cast their ballots “if the poll worker doesn’t recognize you,” Queen said.
Acceptable forms of identification include a driver’s license; passport; military, government or student identification card; birth certificate; Medicare, social security or state benefits card; concealed carry permit; health insurance card; or bank statement issued within six months of Nov. 5, this year’s Election Day.
The law does not apply to absentee voters who cast their votes by mail.
Voters unable to provide identification at the polls can still cast a provisional ballot, which will be counted by election workers if their identity and voter registration can be verified.
Campaign Paraphernalia
Rules regarding conduct at the polls generally apply within a 100-foot radius of voting sites. Some polling locations have signs on site to denote how far this 100-foot boundary extends, and where “electioneering” is deemed a crime under state law.
According to the West Virginia State Code, “electioneering” refers to “the displaying of signs or other campaign paraphernalia, the distribution of campaign literature, cards or handbills, the soliciting of signatures to any petition, or the solicitation of votes for or against any bona fide candidate or ballot question.”
Beyond actively campaigning for a candidate, this means wearing political paraphernalia is forbidden.
“There’s no stickers, there’s no hats, there are no buttons that can be worn in a polling place,” Queen said.
The Morgan County Courthouse served as a polling location for West Virginia’s 2024 primary election.
Photo Credit: Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
In West Virginia, electioneering at a polling location is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine up to $1,000 or a year of jail time.
Some polls are located in multipurpose locations like shopping areas, where enforcement of this policy “gets a little bit nuanced,” Queen said. According to Queen, local officials work harder at multipurpose locations to ensure electioneering does not occur on site.
Photography On Site
Within 100 feet of polls, taking photographs of voters or election officials is also prohibited, Queen said.
Taking pictures of the exterior of a polling location is permitted, but Queen said residents cannot take pictures of voters or polls because it can be disruptive to the voting process.
“No person may enter a voting booth with any recording or electronic device in order to record or interfere with the voting process,” reads a section of the West Virginia Code regarding elections.
Violating the policy can result in fines up to $1,000 or a year of jail time.
Queen added that the secretary of state’s office works with members of the press to ensure they are able to collect media without infringing upon the electoral process.
Behavior Toward Election Workers
Under state law, it is also illegal to prevent election workers from completing their duties “by force, menace, fraud or intimidation.” This can range from disrupting the voting process to threatening poll workers.
Individuals who violate this law can be charged fines up to $1,000, or imprisoned up to one year.
Queen said that residents tend to be respectful of polling location rules and staff members. As of Friday, he said the state had received “zero complaints” from election workers during early voting, which began Oct. 23.
“We have really no complaints with our poll workers,” he said. “Everybody’s very respectful.”
A sign outside Martinsburg High School denotes the school gymnasium as a polling location for West Virginia’s 2024 primary election.
Photo Credit: Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Policy Enforcement
Polling locations do not have police officers or security on site, because it can be “intimidating” to voters, Queen said. But on Election Day, a number of agencies are on standby and ready to respond to any incidents that may occur.
These range from energy and utility companies that can address electricity issues to the state police, Federal Bureau of Investigation, West Virginia National Guard and secretary of state’s office itself for matters of election security.
There are 169 polling locations in West Virginia, and Queen said each one has back-up plans in case anything goes wrong. For example, when flooding was reported at a polling location during a previous election, officials were able to move to a new site, Queen said.
“The secretary of state’s office has 18 investigators alone, just our office, deployed throughout the state on Election Day,” he said. “So we can be just about anywhere within a half hour or so if there are any problems.”
Each polling location is led by a head clerk, “usually the most experienced, most tenured poll worker,” Queen said.
Queen said county clerks provide poll workers training for how to report any issues, and can provide information as needed to voters at the polls.
“Everybody is all hands on deck on Election Day,” he said. “If there are any problems, we can address them very, very quickly.”
For more information on voting in this year’s Nov. 5 general election, visit the West Virginia secretary of state’s voter dashboard at GoVoteWV.com.
On Election Day, Marshall University’s campus TV studio will be the hub for a nationwide broadcasting network of collegiate perspectives on the presidential race and concerns facing many first time voters.
The project, called Student News Live, will involve 24 hours of election reports coming in from universities across the United States. The students of Marshall’s W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications will anchor coverage including contributions from more than 70 universities and other national organizations.
School of Journalism director Dr. Rob Quicke is the project co-founder. He said the unprecedented multi-media effort puts his students at the heart of a unique generational perspective on the 2024 national vote.
“We are going to coordinate 24 hours of election coverage entirely by the students of this country,” Quicke said.
“We’re going to go coast to coast. Hundreds of students are going to be involved, and it’s going to give them an opportunity, a platform for their generation to have their voices heard and for people to understand what the issues are of importance to them.”
Other schools involved include Ohio State, Texas, Georgetown, New York University and others from the West Coast. The initiative, which runs from noon on November 5 until noon on November 6, has national support from PBS Newshour Student reporting Labs, iHeartRadio, NBCU Academy, The Society of Professional Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the Association of LGTBQ+ Journalists and many more.
Marshall broadcast journalism student Emma Gallus will work as Student News Live studio manager and segment producer. She said there is not a more important student topic.
“I think it’s very crucial, because this is our future we’re playing with,” Gallus said. “It’s our rights, it’s our planet. And I think that if we’re not paying attention and we’re not fighting for what we want and what we need, that we’re just going to be kind of pushed off to the side.’
Quicke said the herculean planning effort of 24 straight reporting hours will be a real-world career launching pad for Marshall broadcast journalism students.
“I don’t think you’ll be able to get better real world experience than doing something like actually reporting on the election in real time, interviewing people, putting together packages, editing, writing stories,’ Quicke said. “That is the kind of thing they’ll be doing professionally. And they’re going to be doing it for real.”
Marshall journalism school faculty, staff and alumni, among other professionals, will offer support including mentorship, copyediting and food for the 24-hour broadcast marathon. Gallus said she hoped that Student News Live content, coming from students, about students’ national issues and concerns, would stimulate a better informed young voting block.
“I think that it will help them be better formed as citizens, and understand, this is how this works,” Gallus said. “This is what I can do. Especially if they can’t vote yet, they can see, okay, these are the topics that are important to me. If they are on the docket. I need to pay attention, and I need to do my own research and all of this, so I can form my own opinions.”
