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We have already made clear our admiration for and gratitude to local election officials and workers. We have heard of none in the Northern Panhandle or East Ohio who did anything but a superb job last Tuesday.
But as several states continue counting votes, we want to make one more observation:
Polling places throughout West Virginia closed at 7:30 p.m. last Tuesday. Our reporter had final, unofficial results from Ohio County at 8:40 p.m. Tallies from early voting and mail-in absentee ballots were provided first.
Vote reporting experiences in many other counties were similar.
It was not that West Virginians used early voting and mail-in ballots at much lower rates than in other states. Here, 253,243 people used the early voting method. Absentee ballots were used by another 141,233 voters.
No, we didn't have an unfair advantage over other states. What we did have were solid planning and conscientious election officials and workers. Once again, to all involved: Thank you very much.