Charleston, W.Va. - As of 4:48 p.m. on November 9, 2026, all 55 counties have declared the results of the 2026 General Election. With some certifications coming as soon as this week, WV Secretary of State Kris Warner has turned his attention to what went well, and what did not, during the 2026 election cycle.
The Secretary of State’s Elections Division published a reportthat dives into the issues and summarizes much of the data from the Primary Election. A similar report will be published for the General Election.
“By most measures, this midterm election was excellent from an election integrity standpoint. However, no election is perfect, and there is always room for improvement," said Secretary Warner. "From an administrative standpoint, two of the greatest issues across the State were low voter turnout and the lack of uniformity between the two major parties' primary elections. It is possible that the two are related."
As covered in the 2026 Primary Report, this cycle was the first in decades that the one major party closed its primary election to unaffiliated voters, while the other major party's primary remained open for independents to participate.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 42 states are either completely open or closed to unaffiliated voters, allow voters to choose their party when they vote, or have a multi-party primary system. West Virginia, however, is among only 8 other states that allow unaffiliated voters to participate in one major party's primary, but not the other.
"There is a basic principle in elections that the same rules must be fairly applied to everybody. So when we see not one, but two legal challenges filed as a result of inconsistent standards, it's a major red flag," said Warner. "It might work in the minority of states with semi-closed primaries, but we have real-world examples from this year showing that it did not work in West Virginia."
Following the 2026 Primary Election in Fayette County, an executive committee candidate filed a challenge based on allegations of unaffiliated voters participating in the Republican Primary. The evidence was sufficient to have that election overturned, and it was ordered to reappear on the General Election ballot. In Harrison County, a legislative candidate filed a similar challenge that was resolved without ordering a new election.
“Objectively, it is clear that a lack of uniformity between political party primaries hurts election integrity,” Warner continued. “Not only did we see legal challenges based on inconsistent applications of the closed primary rules, but turnout in the 2026 elections was the lowest in over a decade. I suspect that the lack of uniformity is partly to blame for that."
Voter turnout in the last four midterm general elections, when unaffiliated voters had the choice to participate in either major party's primary election, was as follows: 2022 had 42.91% turnout; 2018 had 47.93% turnout; 2014 had 37.8% turnout, but the number of participating voters (462,864) was nearly the same as in 2026; and 2010 had 44.0% turnout.
"For the 2022 General, there were 1,156,147 registered voters. Despite having 54,150 more registered voters in 2026 than in 2022—17,872 of which were added after the 2026 Primary—turnout was still the lowest we've seen since 2014."
Following the 2026 Primary legal challenges, it is generally believed that the majority of instances where unaffiliated voters cast Republican ballots during the Primary Election were identified as poll worker confusion, voter confusion, and human error.
“The vast majority of those errors can be avoided if our State’s political party primary elections are administered uniformly,” said Warner. “To ensure the integrity of West Virginia elections, our voters and poll workers deserve fairness in the process, and the same rules should apply to everyone regardless their party affiliation.”
Warner continued, "The Republican Party has an opportunity to swiftly take-up this issue for the betterment of our State. Alternatively, the Legislature has the authority to fix this issue statutorily and bring the State back in line with the 42 other states with uniform standards. Whatever the avenue, we must have uniformity. The integrity of West Virginia's elections depends on it."
“Speaking as Secretary of State, this is not a political issue. If both major political parties in the State don’t have the same rules for primary elections, the voters suffer. Poll workers suffer. Election administration suffers. And ultimately, the public’s trust in our processes and outcomes will be diminished,” concluded Warner.
