A sign directs voters to the polls at the entrance to Grace Gospel Church in Pettyville on Tuesday afternoon. (Photo by Gretchen Dowler)

PARKERSBURG – Multiple nominations for state and local positions – and some races outright – were set to be decided in West Virginia’s primary election Tuesday.

Polls closed at 7:30 p.m. with results set to be posted online Tuesday night. Check MariettaTimes.com for the latest results and look for stories on the races in Thursday’s print edition.

To be decided in this election were three seats on the Wood County Board of Education and two seats on Williamstown City Council.

Because no more than two members from the same magisterial district can serve on the school board at one time, the election outcomes are limited by district representation rules. According to the Wood County Clerk’s Office, the results could include one candidate each from Districts A, B and C, or two candidates from District C alongside one candidate from either District A or District B.

Two candidates are running for three seats on Williamstown City Council, which was also to be decided in Tuesday’s election.

There were multiple contested primaries in area legislative districts, including Republican contests for a full term and unexpired term in West Virginia Senate and several House of Delegates districts.

As of 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, voter turnout appeared to be down compared to previous elections, Wood County Clerk Joe Gonzales said.

“It has been slow today,” he said, based on conversations with people manning voting locations around the county.

Gonzales said it was a nice day with good weather. He had hopes that more people would be compelled to come out during the evening hours.

“Hopefully, the voter turnout will pick up in the next three hours,” he said at 4:30 p.m.

Gonzales said there were the usual minor equipment issues with getting everything in working order before voting started. They had no system problems that required any extensive attention throughout the day.

“We got it all taken care of,” Gonzales said.

The county needed 307 poll workers to properly staff the county’s voting locations for 71 voting precincts.

The county was short around eight to 10 poll workers Tuesday morning with people calling off. They had a few alternates that they were able to place with the rest of the vacancies filled with county employees from the clerk’s office.

“All of my employees were out in the field,” Gonzales said. “We did have all of the precincts covered.”

Throughout the day, the clerk’s office answered some calls from people wondering where they needed to go to vote.

“There were not too many,” Gonzales said. “We let them know that and got them to the right precincts so they could vote.”

Gonzales attributes the lower turnout to not having a presidential race on the ballot this time.

“You can’t really say why they are not getting out,” he said. “We thought the weather would bring more people out.”