Blaney assures absentee ballots never leave Mon
More than 5,000 absentee ballots will hit the mail Friday as the Monongalia County Clerk’s office begins final preparations for the Nov. 3 general election.
Clerk Carye Blaney was before the Monongalia County Commission on Wednesday to request approval for a trio of election changes and provide a general update.
As for the changes, Precinct 71, in Westover, will have a new polling location. Instead of the Westover Community Building, voters will use VFW Post 9916, at 340 Holland Ave.
The Westover Community Building is also out as an early voting site, bringing the county down to four early voting locations — Mason-Dixon Historical Park, Mountaineer Mall, the WVU Alumni Center and Fort Pierpont.
Early voting will be from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Oct. 21-31.
Along with getting approval for the lists of poll workers provided by the Republican and Democratic executive committees, Blaney received the commission’s blessing on a $55 increase in pay for the county’s poll workers.
Under the new rates, workers will receive $50 for attending the two-hour training session and $205 for working Election Day. Blaney said there is a 17-hour commitment to be a poll worker, putting the pay at $15/hour.
“We are proud to say we have 152 poll workers on the list. That changes daily, but we do have 152 poll workers and we are certainly looking for additional workers,” Blaney said. “If there are people interested, we would be happy to use them.”
Oct. 13 is the final day to register to vote or make any address changes. Blaney said this can be done by contacting her office or using the online voter system with a West Virginia driver’s license, even if the license is expired.
The final day to request an absentee ballot is Oct. 28. Blaney said ballots can be requested by contacting her office or using inserts in Wednesday’s edition of The Dominion Post as well as an upcoming Post Extra.
She encouraged voters to return their absentee ballots by mail, noting drop boxes are not permitted in the state of West Virginia.
“I can reassure our voters in this county that we have a relationship with our local post office and our ballots are handled specifically for this county. If you live in this county … your ballot never does leave this county,” Blaney said.
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