Declare: Polls typically find that Americans trust elections run in their own backyard much more than those in other communities and states. What should the average American who doesn’t live in your backyard . . . know about elections in your state?
Secretary Kris Warner: In West Virginia, we offer more ways for people to vote than in any other state in the country. We even allow our individuals that are in the military overseas to be able to vote from an electronic device — their phone or tablet or personal computer.
But we have 10 days of early voting that includes two weekends of, you know, Saturday voting. We have absentee ballot mailing. Under certain specifics, you can request an absentee ballot and have it sent. And then, obviously, we have Election Day.
So we offer more ways for people to vote than any other state in the country.
I would tell you that, you know, it takes 8,500 poll workers in over 1,600 different precincts to run an election. But those are friendly faces that you’re gonna know when you walk into the polling place. It’s all about confidence in elections, and there’s confidence in West Virginia elections.
We also, our machines that are used [have] marking devices to mark a paper ballot. So we have paper ballots, but it’s a device that marks that paper ballot. You get to look at that, make sure you voted for who you intended to vote for, before you put that ballot in the box.
It is tabulated by a scanner, an electronic scanner, but we hand count 3 percent of all the precincts in each individual county of 55 counties. So we do a hand count to make sure that the vote totals match up. And if they’re off by 1 percent, or if it causes an election to flip from the unofficial results on election night, 10 days later there’s a canvassing.
And so it’s a very safe, secure, fair, and honest way to run elections.
Declare: Granting that there isn’t a single “American election system” — what is your opinion of American elections, in general?
Warner: I can speak to West Virginia elections, and you’re right, there’s not one system that fits all. But we, you know, have 50 different states that each conduct their elections. And, you know, again, you’re walking into a polling place, you’re seeing familiar faces. These are not federal agents. The federal government is not running our election.
But when they all come together, those votes are tallied, and we can conduct a federal election at the same time we’re conducting a state or a countywide election.
Declare: Since the COVID year, congressional Democrats, congressional Republicans, and President Trump have taken turns trying to create election policy. From your perspective — what could the federal government provide that could actually help you do your job?
Warner: Quite frankly, we’re best off when the federal government stays out of our elections. So if they want to stay out of West Virginia, that would be perfectly fine with us. We conduct our elections. The U.S. Constitution calls for the time, manner, and place of elections to be left to the states. And so our job as a secretary of state is to carry out the laws that the West Virginia legislature makes.
If you’re going to press me on that, I would tell you that, you know, we’ve recently had our HAVA funds cut. The Help America Vote Act funds have been cut drastically. If they wanted to restore those funds, it would help allow things like e-poll books in each of the counties. Many of our counties have e-poll books. It’s an efficient way to get people in, allow them to vote, and back out the door quickly. And that would allow us to do that in all 55 counties.
State of the Secretaries with Kris Warner
Declare: Polls typically find that Americans trust elections run in their own backyard much more than those in other communities and states. What should the average American who doesn’t live in your backyard . . . know about elections in your state?
Secretary Kris Warner: In West Virginia, we offer more ways for people to vote than in any other state in the country. We even allow our individuals that are in the military overseas to be able to vote from an electronic device — their phone or tablet or personal computer.
But we have 10 days of early voting that includes two weekends of, you know, Saturday voting. We have absentee ballot mailing. Under certain specifics, you can request an absentee ballot and have it sent. And then, obviously, we have Election Day.
So we offer more ways for people to vote than any other state in the country.
I would tell you that, you know, it takes 8,500 poll workers in over 1,600 different precincts to run an election. But those are friendly faces that you’re gonna know when you walk into the polling place. It’s all about confidence in elections, and there’s confidence in West Virginia elections.
We also, our machines that are used [have] marking devices to mark a paper ballot. So we have paper ballots, but it’s a device that marks that paper ballot. You get to look at that, make sure you voted for who you intended to vote for, before you put that ballot in the box.
It is tabulated by a scanner, an electronic scanner, but we hand count 3 percent of all the precincts in each individual county of 55 counties. So we do a hand count to make sure that the vote totals match up. And if they’re off by 1 percent, or if it causes an election to flip from the unofficial results on election night, 10 days later there’s a canvassing.
And so it’s a very safe, secure, fair, and honest way to run elections.
Declare: Granting that there isn’t a single “American election system” — what is your opinion of American elections, in general?
Warner: I can speak to West Virginia elections, and you’re right, there’s not one system that fits all. But we, you know, have 50 different states that each conduct their elections. And, you know, again, you’re walking into a polling place, you’re seeing familiar faces. These are not federal agents. The federal government is not running our election.
But when they all come together, those votes are tallied, and we can conduct a federal election at the same time we’re conducting a state or a countywide election.
Declare: Since the COVID year, congressional Democrats, congressional Republicans, and President Trump have taken turns trying to create election policy. From your perspective — what could the federal government provide that could actually help you do your job?
Warner: Quite frankly, we’re best off when the federal government stays out of our elections. So if they want to stay out of West Virginia, that would be perfectly fine with us. We conduct our elections. The U.S. Constitution calls for the time, manner, and place of elections to be left to the states. And so our job as a secretary of state is to carry out the laws that the West Virginia legislature makes.
If you’re going to press me on that, I would tell you that, you know, we’ve recently had our HAVA funds cut. The Help America Vote Act funds have been cut drastically. If they wanted to restore those funds, it would help allow things like e-poll books in each of the counties. Many of our counties have e-poll books. It’s an efficient way to get people in, allow them to vote, and back out the door quickly. And that would allow us to do that in all 55 counties.