WHEELING — There are now more registered Republican voters both in West Virginia and in Marshall County than registered Democrats.

The West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office posts data — current as of February 28 — showing that, for the first time in recent history, Republican registrations across the state outnumber those of Democrats.

But this is not because there are more people registering to vote in West Virginia. The same data indicates that since the November presidential election, the total number of voter registrations in the state has decreased by about 67,000.

Current totals set the number of registered voters in West Virginia at 1,201,466.

On Oct. 31, 2020 — four days prior to the Nov. 3 presidential election — there were 1,268,460 registered voters in the state.

After the presidential election, voting clerks were required to comb their registration files and purge those that were inactive. Marshall County Clerk Jan Pest said that is the likely reason for the lower registration totals.

The number of those registering with no party affiliation has remained relatively constant in recent months.

Marshall County and four other counties in the Northern Panhandle — Ohio, Hancock, Brooke and Wetzel counties — have traditionally been Democratic strongholds. Tyler County is a Republican base.

Pest said “not even five years ago” would she have imagined Republicans outnumbering Democrats in her county. Until recent years, Democrats outnumbered Republicans 3-1 in Marshall County.

“I wouldn’t have projected it, but I saw it happening,” she said. “There were people coming in with new registrations, and people changing from Democrat to Republican. It was a big change, really.”

Current voter registration totals show Marshall County with 7,633 Republicans, and 7,535 Democrats. There are 20,509 in total registered to vote in Marshall County.

This is in contrast to November, when Marshall County boasted 7,962 Democrats, 7,816 Republicans, and a total voter base of 21,417.

“Since Mac Warner has been Secretary of State, one of his main projects has been to clean up voter rolls. That’s been an ongoing process,” Pest said.

Counties had until a March 1 deadline to pull inactive registrations, she said. Clerks are getting more information from other counties and states on former residents in their county who have moved and no longer vote there.

In addition, if a voter doesn’t cast a ballot within a period of two federal elections, their registration can be pulled, according to Pest.

Marshall County Republlican Party Chairman Brian Long said the county’s flip to more GOP residents was “a good thing” and “a long time coming.”

“The way I see it, the electorate is leaving the Democrats,” he said. “They are so against gas and oil and coal. That Biden bunch — their leader is tanking them.

“He (Biden) won, but he definitely didn’t win West Virginia.”

Long also didn’t foresee the future taking a right turn in Marshall County and West Virginia toward the GOP.

“If you would have told me five years ago a governor would flip parties and be re-elected, then we would control the board of public works and have super-majorities in the Senate and House — I wouldn’t have taken that bet that would happen,” he said.

“At the end of the road, I’m glad it happened and I think they are doing a good job of governing. I’m proud to support them.”

Delegate Lisa Zukoff is a Democrat who represents Marshall County in the West Virginia House of Delegates. She senses the state’s voters don’t see the national Democratic Party as being in step with West Virginia

“The change from Democrat to Republican has taken place gradually over the past 20 years,” she said..” I believe West Virginia’s long history with dependence on coal, and the industry’s decline has been a major factor in the change.

“National Democratic policies dealing with climate change and environmental policies have hurt the Democratic party in West Virginia.”

The national Democratic Party’s stance on such other issues as gun control also haven’t been that of the West Virginia Democratic Party, Zukoff said.

“West Virginia Republicans have done a better job at messaging than have Democrats, and Democrats must up their game,” she said.

“West Virginia voters need to understand West Virginia Democrats are different from the national Democratic Party. We are much more moderate. We care about our neighbors and communities. We support working class jobs and family values, the 2nd Amendment and the entire constitution.”

State Democrats also need to let voters know Republicans in Charleston are legislating “in an extremist way that harms the family values of West Virginians,” Zukoff said. She said GOP lawmakers aren’t adhering the values they campaigned on, and have been putting big business concerns over people in the state.

Ohio County voting registration numbers indicate a political flip from more Democrat voters to a Republican majority may soon happen there.

Current voter registration numbers show Ohio County with 10,471 Democrats and 10,323 Republicans.

Ohio County Republican Party Chairwoman Elgine McAardle said a GOP majority in the state “was always a hope, but never an expectation” of party leaders.

“I know the state party and our executive committee have worked hard to encourage people to migrate,” she said. “I think the current (Biden) administration, its policies and executive orders have discouraged a lot of Democrats.

“Simply the old Democratic Party of (President John F. Kennedy) no longer exists, and I think there are a lot of people who feel disenfranchised by many things — not the least of which are the policies of the (Biden) administration.”

Teddie.Grogan, president of the Ohio County Democratic Women, said her organization has been extremely active since before the 2018 election in seeking to register younger Democrats to vote. The Democratic women also have been trying to get the word out to those who haven’t voted in a while that their names could be removed from voter registration lists.

The plan is still being put together, she said.

“We also have to encourage Independents, and sell them on Democratic ideals,” Grogan said. “We have to tell them the Democratic party is the people’s party, and we care about the average person.

“Overall, we don’t support big lies. We are the party of truth.”

Democrats also support equality for Black, Asian, LGBTQ and Native American communities, she said.

Grogan said the local parties also need to stand up and support labor unions and their workers.

“We readily admit we have a lot to do to get our message out … make sure it is understood … and win back voters with truth and actions,” she said.

Three other counties in the Northern Panhandle maintain Democratic majorities among voter registrations.

Brooke County has 8,511 Democratic registrations, and 5,872 Republican ones among

19,047 total registered voters.

Hancock County boasts 9,838 Democrats, and 8,411 Republicans. There are 13,352 registered voters in Hancock County. In Wetzel County, there are 4,572 Democrats and 3,268 Republicans among 10,242 registered voters.

Tyler County maintains a Republican majority. It has 3,336 registered Republicans, 1,575 Democrats and 6,668 total voters.