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Registered voters in Elkins had a poor showing at the polls for the 2023 Elkins Muncipal Election, with just 13% of them casting ballots.
A total of 576 votes were cast in this year's election. By contrast, more than 1,000 votes were cast in the 2021 Elkins municipal election.
Elkins Mayor Jerry Marco, who was running unopposed for reelection, was the top vote-getter for the city Tuesday. He garnered 518 votes, or 11.8% of the city's 4,381 registered voters.
First Ward voters cast the highest number of votes (252 out of 1,152), and they had the highest percentage of voters (21.9%) of any of the city wards.
In Second Ward, 49 votes were cast, out of 832 registered voters, a turnout of just 5.9%.
Even worse, in Third Ward, just 24 votes were tallied out of 649 registered voters, a percentage of 3.7%.
In Fourth Ward, 139 votes were cast, out of 960 registered voters, a turnout of 14.5%.
Fifth Ward totaled 112 votes out of 788 registered voters, a percentage of 14.2%.
With just 576 votes cast out of the city's 4,381 registered voters, the voter turnout ratio for Tuesday's election was 13.15%.
Folks, that's not good enough.
Did moving the date of the municipal election from its traditional March to June this year effect the voter participation, or did area residents just not care about the election?
For the more than 85% of Elkins' registered voters who did not participate in this year's city election and don't like some of the tough decisions the city will be making over the next few years, we suggest you complain to your pet. Because you didn't care enough to vote, you didn't earn the right to second-guess city officials when they make decisions.