The Monongalia County Commission on Wednesday passed a resolution declaring March “West Virginia Women in History Month” in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment’s ratification in West Virginia.
On June 4, 1919, both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate passed the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote after more than 72 years of protest.
Vicki Connor, representing the League of Women Voters and West Virginia Women Vote, said West Virginia ratified the amendment on March 10, 1920, becoming the 34th state to do so.
Months later, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment, making it the law of the land.
Connor said the legacy of the 19th Amendment continues to grow as more and more women seek public office with each passing election.
Speaking of which, Monongalia County’s County Clerk, Carye Blaney, spoke about her efforts ahead of the upcoming May primary election.
The county will once again have five early voting locations, four of which remain from 2018 — Mountaineer Mall, Mason-Dixon Park, Westover Community Center and WVU Alumni Center. The fifth will be in Fort Pierpont, near Planet Fitness.
“We try to strategically place our early voting sites at the main arteries of how people travel to and from, in and out of Morgantown, so they can access a voting location on their way to and from work,” Blaney said.
Early voting will be April 29-May 9.
Blaney also asked the commission to maintain the county’s existing policy for emergency absentee voting in light of recent legislative changes that would allow poll workers to enter private homes to conduct absentee voting under certain circumstances.
The county’s policy allows entry to the two public hospitals as well as nursing homes if a voter was confined to a nursing home after the period to apply for an absentee ballot by mail.
Lastly, Blaney reminded voters that primary elections are no longer simply about party nominations, but now feature a number of important non-partisan contests.
“These primaries are general elections for the board of education, judges — Supreme Court, circuit judges, magistrates — our levies, conservation district supervisor,” she said. “There are several races that are on the primary election ballot that will not be on the general election ballot.”
Ballot commissioners for the primary will be Paula Martinelli (R) and Bader Giggenbach (D). The county will maintain 41 precincts spread across 29 polling locations, just as in 2018.
Election information is available at monongaliacountyclerk.com.
TWEET @DominionPostWV
