What’s going on with voter pre-registration in West Virginia?

The average pre-registration rate in West Virginia is just 14%. While on par with California, statewide pre-registration averages in West Virginia are dwarfed by states like Colorado and Oregon that see numbers doubling W.V.’s rate. In West Virginia, a motor voter system allows high school students to pre-register to vote at age 17 if they will be 18 by the next general election. Certain West Virginia counties, like Morgan County, boasts a pre-registration rate of 50.5%. Similarly, an estimated 50.3% of 17-year-olds in Clay County and 48.3% of 17-year-olds in Nicholas County are pre-registered to vote. Despite these notable successes in the state, other counties, like Barbour and Braxton, do not even break 3% pre-registration, and 43 of West Virginia’s 55 counties do not break 20% pre-registration.