Coming November 8
From 5 votes to 1: Understand how your one vote makes a difference!
Head-to-Head House of Delegates Races
You will vote for one. Make the right choice.
In the upcoming 2022 election, voters will now have a clearer choice in their House of Delegates race by virtue of single-member delegate districts. These will be head-to-head-races in your local area.
No longer will voters cast ballots for five House of Delegates members in Monongalia County and the top-five get seated.
Instead, Monongalia County now has SIX House of Delegates districts as a result of increased population and the 2021 redistricting.
In a 2021 WVMetroNews column, Hoppy Kercheval outlined the major benefits of this change:
First, the single-member districts are smaller, putting the elected representative closer to the people. Multi-member districts confuse voters as to who represents them.
Second, the smaller districts will encourage more candidates to run. Multi-member districts, which tend to be in the state’s urban areas, often require more expensive campaigns.
Third, single-member districts simplify campaigns. Barring a third party candidate, two candidates will square off against each other in the General Election. That allows voters to easily compare the candidates.
Fourth, multi-member districts turn into a cattle call at election time. How are voters supposed to be informed about six, eight or ten different candidates in one race?
Fifth, the multi-member districts allow candidates to “hide” at election time. A candidate with just a little more name recognition has an advantage when voters have a long list to choose from.
As Kercheval noted in the same column, "For decades, West Virginia has been an outlier among states by having multi-member districts. Over the years, the number of delegates from a particular district has ranged from one or two up to double figures."
In describing why this matters locally in Monongalia County, MCREC member Cindy Chambers summarized it well in a Mountain State Spotlight article:
“We have all these people running for office in one big area,” said Cindy Chambers, who’s lived in Morgantown for 35 years. “We’re so different from Blacksville, to South Park, to Suncrest, to Cheat Lake. People have different interests. They have different things that they want to have done.”
Simply put, single-member districts are another example of an improvement Republicans have made to change the dynamics in West Virginia to better reflect local citizens' voices going forward.
View your sample ballot in advance to understand what candidates you'll encounter when you vote.
Check out our 2022 Monongalia County Voter Guide to learn more about this important election.
2022 Monongalia County Republican House of Delegates Candidates
Get ready to vote and elect the right candidates for Monongalia County.
Joe Statler, WV House of Delegates District 77
Geno Chiarelli, WV House of Delegates District 78
Zach LeMaire, WV House of Delegates District 79
Justin White, WV House of Delegates, District 80
Steven Harris, WV House of Delegates, District 81
Debbie Warner, WV House of Delegates, District 82