MORGANTOWN — For Morgantown residents, Tuesday is the final day to become a registered voter in order to participate in Morgantown’s April 27 municipal election.
In order to help facilitate this process, the Morgantown City Clerk’s office will be set up from 8 a.m.- 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Morgantown Market Place pavilion, 400 Spruce St.
City Clerk Christine Wade said assistance with paper applications and online registration will be available at the event, which will be conducted in accordance with COVID-19 protocols.
“We’re just trying to get more folks registered. We’re always trying to get more residents to vote,” Wade said. “We’re going to be out there to help. We’re not going to turn anyone away. Even if they don’t live in the city, we’ll still help get them registered.”
Tuesday’s registration push is one of the additions Wade has made to the city’s election process this time around. Others include the introduction of sensitivity and diversity training for poll workers as well as the incorporation of the city’s GIS office, which will allow voters to track polling location wait times through the city’s website.
“I’m always looking for ways to better our office and for better ways to serve our community. If the community has recommendations, like with the poll worker training, that was somebody’s recommendation. So if something like that comes from the community and they feel like it’s something we need, then we should do it,” Wade said. “These things that we’re doing are just the right things to do.”
Registered voters who would like to avoid in-person voting altogether have until April 21 to request and return an absentee ballot. Wade said there have been 33 absentee ballot requests thus far.
This will be Wade’s second election since taking over the clerk’s office in 2018. As previously mentioned, Wade said she hopes more city residents get out and cast ballots.
Voter turnout has fluctuated wildly over the years, largely tied to the number of contested races.
For example, in 2007, all seven seats were unopposed and 1.6% of the city’s voters went to the polls, or 225 of 13,900 voters.
In 2017, all seven seats were contested, but turnout barely crept over the 15% mark, with 2,724 of the city’s 18,076 registered voters participating.
In 2019, there were four contested races, including the 3rd Ward, in which voters had to select a write-in candidate. All told, 8.94% of the city’s 18,365 voters cast a ballot.
As of Jan. 4, there were 19,272 registered voters in the city. April’s election will feature three contested races including, once again, a 3rd Ward race between write-in candidates.
The 2021 election will also include a ballot referendum that, if passed, would double council terms from two to four years and stagger elections so that either three or four members are up for reelection every two years.
Early voting begins April 14.
Election information, including polling locations, a list of candidates and links to voter registration and absentee ballot forms, is available on the city’s website, morgantownwv.gov.
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