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WHEELING - All four local counties in East Ohio had voter turnout exceeding 50% in this week's election - but they were all still below Ohio's statewide turnout rate of 58.1%.
In West Virginia, the overall turnout was 38.33%. Ohio, Hancock and Marshall counties exceeded that number, though Brooke, Wetzel and counties did not.
Strong contests for governor and U.S. Senate topped ballots in the Buckeye State and likely led voters to the polls.
Locally, Monroe County posted a turnout of 57.06%; Harrison, 54.12%; Belmont County, 52.73% and Jefferson County, 52.27%.
The highest turnout in Ohio was in Paulding County in Northwest Ohio along the Indiana border, where 74.42% of voters cast ballots.
Ohio County had the highest turnout among counties in West Virginia's Northern Panhandle at 44.86%. The turnout in Hancock County was 40.4%; and in Marshall 39.88%
Brooke County's turnout was 36.55%; Wetzel County's, 35.73%; and Tyler County's 32.92%
The highest turnout in West Virginia was in Wirt County at 54.9%, followed by Tucker County at 50%, Hardy County at 45.61%; Pendleton at 45.19%; and then Ohio County.
Kristina Rohrer, assistant professor of political science at West Liberty University, speculated turnout was higher than usual for the midterms on Tuesday because Americans wanted to voice their concerns about the state of the nation.
"The most obvious answer was that this represented a push back to the Trump Administration and the war with Iran. And the gas prices from the war have made inflation worse,” she said.
Trump's election in 2024 largely was a rebuke of the Biden Administration's inability to lower prices, especially gas prices, she continued.
"They (the Trump Administration) now seem to have made it worse," Rohrer said. "They went in the opposite direction of what their initial mandate was.
"They had a unified Republican government. They didn't lower the cost of living, and that was what people wanted."
Rohrer said it is also believed more young people, those under the age of 29, are coming out to vote. Traditionally, this has been the group with the lowest voter turnout and past elections have seen them supporting Trump and Republicans.
But now, they seem to be moving away from that position, Rohrer said.
Additionally, Trump has typically been able to attract Latino voters, she continued.
"Both groups now have abandoned him, and how he won in 2024 was with those demographics," Rohrer explained.
Usually the turnout for a mid-term is only about 40%, she continued.
"If there is a higher voter turnout - even if it's just a 10% increase - it means more people are motivated and paying attention to politics," Rohrer said. "This is not always something people do, unfortunately."