West Virginians Urged To Vote in Road Bond Election

State officials are urging West Virginians to get out and vote during Saturday’s special election.

West Virginia voters are being asked to approve the sale of $1.6 billion in general obligation bonds. The bonds are part of Governor Jim Justice’s roads infrastructure spending plan.

Justice says his plan will create tens of thousands of jobs, fix existing roads and build new roads — without any need to raise new taxes.

Opponents of the bond call say the governor’s road plan won’t produce nearly as many jobs as Justice claims. Opponents also point out that the bond project list includes $1.9 billion in projects, so some projects either won’t be completes or more taxes will have to be raised.

During a Friday press conference, Justice implored residents to vote, regardless of how they feel about the bond.

Secretary of State Mac Warner also urged residents to visit the polls. He said in a press release that of the roughly 1.22 million registered voters, only 37,534 had cast early or absentee ballots by the end of early voting on Wednesday, Oct. 4.

Polls are open for special road bond election from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7.