Voting machines tested ahead of early voting period

ELKINS – A public testing of voting machines took place at the Randolph County Courthouse Friday in preparation for the upcoming early voting period and the Nov. 3 General Election.   

Randolph County Clerk Karla Mahanes and one of her staff members, Ryan Stanley, oversaw the testing while community members, including Randolph County Commissioner Cris Siler, ran sample ballots through the machines.    

“The testing was open to the public, and today we had it set up like we would have for early voting,” Mahanes told The Inter-Mountain. “We had the e-poll book where you could look up the voter, put the barcode at the top of the ballot, and link to whatever precinct you’re registered in.”    

Early voting in Randolph County will begin on Wednesday, Oct. 21, and will run through Oct. 31. The early voting locations are the Commission Annex in Elkins and the Russell Memorial Library in Mill Creek. Early voting hours will be from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays.     

“We have the two locations for early voting as we always do,” Mahanes said. “A lot of people take advantage of the early voting and we are hopeful we will have a good turnout. We haven’t been as pleased with the overall turnout for voting, we wish more people would participate and take part in it.”     

Mahanes said that sample ballots are available in the County Clerk’s office and that applications for absentee ballots will be available through Oct. 28.     

“Anybody that can’t make it out to the precinct on election day, or can’t make it out for early voting, whether it’s being (due to) advanced age, an illness, or personal and business travel, they can request an absentee ballot,” Mahanes said. “It can be mailed to them, and we are accepting applications through Oct. 28 for those. So far we have sent out 115 absentee ballots, and that’s an increase from the primary elections, where we sent out a total of 64.” 

The Randolph County Commission recently approved the appointment of Mahanes to the County Clerk postion, following the retirement of Brenda Wiseman, who recently retired after holding the position for the past 20 years. Mahanes was sworn in during a recent commission meeting by Randolph County Circuit Judge David Wilmoth.          

For more voting information, contact the Randolph County Clerk’s Office at 304-636-0543, or visit West Virginia Secretary of State Kris Warner’s page at https://sos.wv.gov/elections.