While running for Secretary of State in 2008, Tennant said that she was committed to increasing voter turnout in West Virginia and she also talked about all the ways that she would make elections in West Virginia better. Well, the Pew election rankings for the 2012 election were just released and they are not good for West Virginia or its chief elections officer:
Here are some of the lowlights from the Pew rankings:
- In 2012, West Virginia was ranked 45th out of 51 when it came to overall performance in the 2012 elections. This was a drop of one position from 2010 when West Virginia was ranked 44th.
- Despite Tennant’s stated commitment during the 2008 campaign to increase voter turnout, voter turnout went from 51.15 percent in 2008 to 46.33 percent in 2012, a decrease of almost 5 percentage points.
- West Virginia ranked 49th when it came to disability- or illness-related voting problems.
- West Virginia ranked 50th when it came to voter turnout.
- West Virginia ranked 40th when it came to voter registration.
- West Virginia ranked 45th when it came to the residual vote rate.