West Virginia

WEST VIRGINIA

5 Electoral Votes

Population
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau, West Virginia Secretary of State)

Total Population, July 1, 2003 est.	1,810,354
Total Registration, Nov. 2004	1,168,694 >

Dem. 680,464 (58.22%) Rep. 349,193 (29.88%) Mtn. 637 (0.05%) Nonpart. 128,994 (11.04%) Other 9,406 (0.80%)
West Virginia has: 55 counties.
Five largest counties: Kanawha, Cabell, Wood, Raleigh, Monongalia.

Government
Governor: Bob Wise (D) elected in 2000, not seeking re-election in 2004.
State Legislature: West Virginia Legislature House: 100 seats Senate: 34 seats
Local: Cities, Counties NACO Counties
U.S. House: 2D,1R- 1. A.Mollohan, Jr (D) | 2. S.M.Capito (R) | 3. N.J.Rahall III (D).
U.S. Senate: Jay Rockefeller (D) re-elected in 2002, Robert C. Byrd (D) re-elected in 2000.

In the gubernatorial race, Secretary of State Joe Manchin III (D) defeated Monty Warner (R) and Jesse Johnson (Mtn) by 472,758 votes (63.51%) to 253,131 (34.00%) and 18,430 (2.48%). Elsewhere on the ballot, Republicans did have a number of successes, re-electing Congresswoman Capito, capturing the Secretary of State's office, and picking up 3 State Senate seats and 1 House seat. After a costly negative campaign, Republican Brent Benjamin defeated Supreme Court Justice Warren McGraw.

The Mountain State

State of West Virginia
Secretary of State
State Election Commission

Libertarian Party of WV
Natural Law Party-WV
Reform Party-WV
Constitution Party-WV
WV Democratic Party
WV Republican State Comm.

Charleston Gazette
Charleston Daily Mail
Media (Newsp.)
Media (TV)

Politics1-WV

General Election -- Tuesday, November 2, 2004

Deadline to register: October 13, 2004.
Early in-person voting began October 13, 2004 (20 days before election to three days before election) - "any voter may walk into their local county or circuit clerk’s office, depending upon where they live, and vote absentee with 'no excuse.'” (legislation adopted in 2001)

Kerry/Edwards (Dem.)	326,541	(43.21)
Nader/Camejo (Ind).	4,063	(0.54)
Badnarik/Campagna (Lib.)	1,405	(0.19)
+Bush/Cheney (Rep.)	423,778	(56.07)
Write Ins (2)	5	-
Total........755,792

Write Ins: Lawson Mitchell Bone (0), David Cobb (5)

2004 Overview
Both campaigns put significant resources into West Virginia. September saw considerable activity by the candidates, but in October visits dwindled markedly. Bush carried 46 counties to Kerry's 9 and ended up more than doubling his 2000 plurality to 97,237 votes (12.86 percentage points). Over 107,000 more people voted in the presidential race in 2004 as compared to 2000; registration in 2004 was a bit over 100,000 more than in 2000.
General Election Details

Kerry/Allies

Bush-Cheney '04

Past Results

1996

Clinton (Dem.)........327,812	(51.51)
Dole (Rep.)............233,946	(36.76)
Perot (Ref.)..............71,639	(11.26)
Browne (Lib.).............3,062	(0.48)
Total........636,459

1992

Clinton (Dem.)........331,001 (48.41)

Bush (Rep.)...........241,974 (35.39)

Perot (Ind.).............108,829
(15.92)

Browne (Lib.).............1,907
(0.28)

Total........683,711

2000

Gore/Lieberman (Dem.)	295,497	(45.59)
+Bush/Cheney (Rep.)	336,475	(51.92)
Browne/Olivier (Lib.)	1,912	(0.30)
Hagelin/Goldhaber(NLP)	367	(0.06)
Buchanan/Foster (Ref.)	3,169	(0.49)
Nader/LaDuke (Grn.)	10,680	(1.65)
Earnest Lee Easton (w/in)	0	-
Howard Phillips (w/in)	23	-
Gloria Dawn Strickland (w)	1	-
Total........648,124

Voter Registration: 1,066,349 - Dem. 658,945 (61.79%), Rep. 309,528 (29.03%), Lib 964, Indep. and Other 96,912 (9.09%)

2000 Overview
Bush carried this reliably Democratic state despite a two-to-one registration advantage for Democrats. The Bush-Cheney ticket won with a plurality of 40,978 votes (6.33 percentage points). Bush carried 42 counties to Gore's 13. Concerns among coal miners about Gore's environmental positions, among steel workers about foreign dumping, and among gun owners hurt the Vice President. In the open second congressional district race, Republican Shelley Moore Capito picked up a seat despite running against the top spending House candidate in the country, Jim Humphries ($6.9 million).
General Election Activity

Notes: West Virginia has three official parties: the Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians. On April 7, 1999 Gov. Underwood signed SB 591 into law, making ballot access markedly more difficult for minor party and independent candidates by increasing the required number of signatures from one percent of votes cast in the last election to two percent. 6,365 signatures were required before June 11, 1999 and 12, 730 after. The Natural Law Party successfully petitioned to get on the ballot in 1999. The Reform Party submitted petitions on August 1, 2000 containing 14,871 valid signatures, 2,141 more than required. Nader supporters turned in 7,111 valid signatures, short of the number required, but the Nader campaign went to court, and the Green Party made the ballot as a result of a Sept. 15, 2000 decision by Judge Charles H. Haden, II of the U.S. District Court, Southern District of West Virginia.

Primary Election -- May 11, 2004

In addition to selecting delegates to the national conventions, the primary determined nominees for state and federal offices. The Secretary of State reported 432,228 ballots cast: 296,658 Democratic, 127,860 Republican, and 7,710 NP.

Democratic: 39 Delegates (Pledged 28, Unpledged 11) and 5 Alternates.

Democratic

Total Vote

Percent

Wesley K. Clark
9,170

3.63%

Howard Dean
10,576

4.18%

John Edwards
33,950

13.43%

+John F. Kerry
175,065

69.24%

Dennis J. Kucinich
6,114

2.42%

Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr.
4,083

1.61%

Joe Lieberman
13,881

5.49%

Total
252,839

2000 page, including primary information>>