Fayetteville & Beckley (WOAY): Voter turnout has been good today, according to the Raleigh and Fayette County Clerks. You can find a transcript below, or check out the full story and more in the NewsWatch Special Report for this 2026 General Election:
Poll attendance at the Raleigh County Courthouse and Fayette County Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Building seemed slow but steady this afternoon. However, that may be because early voting turnout was so high for this election.
Voters on both sides of the aisle say one of the biggest concerns that brought them to the polls is the ever-rising cost of living:
Danny Potter, Fayette County resident: “The economy is wild nowadays; you can’t even hardly afford to eat, especially when you’re like me: you got a wife and four kids, and you’re the only one that works, trying to support them. You know, it’s just really, really hard. My main objective is voting for anybody willing to do tax cuts, price cuts, keep prices of food, gas, stuff like that down. Just normal living expenses, you know, not even living extravagant—just being able to live normal.”
Michelle Holly, Fayette County Clerk: “I think we have the same concerns here that we have all over. You know, prices of everything have gone up, and they’re looking to see who is on our ballot that could help the most with that kind of stuff… Early voting was about 13% here, which is higher than we had in the ’22 general election. Today seems like everybody’s been pretty busy. It’s been steady. It’s not been packed places, but there’s certainly been some lines at some of the precincts.”
Scott Van Meter, Raleigh County Clerk: “I probably went to 15 to 20 different areas that you can vote, polling places, and some have been some good steady turnouts. Some have been low.”
Tera Richmond, Raleigh County assistant chief deputy: “Early voting was really good. We were well above what we were expecting. So it was a good turnout.”
Holly: “We don’t have the president on this ballot, but we have our U.S. senators and House of Delegates. We have our state senate and our county commission race… A lot of people on this ballot that can really make a difference in your everyday life.”
Potter: “I think everybody has the right to vote, should get out and vote because, you know, if you’re not voting, you don’t really have a say in the griping about what’s the outcome. You know, if you didn’t go to vote to try to change the outcome.”
Van Meter: “The polls are open till 7:30, and you need to do your civic duty and come on out and vote.”
If anyone hasn’t made it out to the polls yet, they have until 7:30 tonight, and they should be allowed to submit a ballot as long as they’re inside the polling place by that time.
