West Virginia Primary: The Race is Always Over

By the time West Virginians get to go to the polls, always in May, the race for the presidential candidates is always over. Or at least that's how it worked out since I've been a voter.

This is quite unfortunate, as most folks in the Mountain State simply look at the primary as only a presidential primary. They forget, or don't pay attention, to the equally important local races. Thus, if a local underdog can rally his or her troops to the poll, my city of Huntington will often see upsets in local races.

Huntington, West Virginia, with a population of just less than 50,000, is the second largest city in the state -- behind the capitol, Charleston. For each primary in which I have taken a part, I have been thoroughly disappointed. As I get out of bed and do my morning routine, I always expect City Hall to be bustling with excited voters, people standing 100 feet away (or whatever the legal distance is) holding signs in support of their candidates.

Instead, I'll just stroll over during my lunch hour at work, and there will be 2 or 3 people sitting in folding chairs behind a folding table. They cross off the names of the few who do show up as they are handed the voter's registration card. It's really quite sad. They will have about eight voting machines. Usually there is one elderly person, who rightly wishes for the days of paper ballots, trying to figure out the machine. All in all, what one would think should be one off the most hopping places to cast your vote, is dead empty.

The people at the desk are always extremely pleasant, almost begging you to come again. In '06 I told them, "see you in '08." This year it will be, "see you 2010."

The GOP shook things up this year. They held a caucus back in the winter to determine two-thirds of the state delegates. This was a much better idea, but, since this was the first year of its inception, no one knew what was going on.