We're Number 3

For a while, I’ve been saying the next round of population estimates compiled by the Census Bureau will show Cabell County slipping to the third-largest in West Virginia, behind Kanawha and Berkeley. The 2005 estimates showed Cabell with slightly more people, but if you look at our stagnant population and Berkeley County’s growth, it appears Berkeley County has already overtaken us.

So today I got a news release from the secretary of state’s office with voter registration numbers. It shows Berkeley County with 57,724 registered voters and Cabell County with 55,784. I went back and checked registration numbers for the primary and saw Berkeley had more registered voters than Cabell back then, too.

Two years ago, Cabell County had more registered voters -- 60,652 to 52,308. If you look at historical numbers, Cabell's registrations that year were unusually high. This year's are closer to what you would expect. I have no way of saying with any authority where those 3,000 voters came from or went to. (I have ideas, as we all do, but nothing I can point to).

So what does this mean, really? Nothing, for now. But the fact that all growth areas of the state except for one -- Morgantown -- rely on booming economies just across the line in other states tells me something.