By Brian Trompeter
Fairfax County supervisors on Feb. 21 are expected to authorize a March 7 public hearing to discuss the possible renaming and creation of some voting precincts and the relocation of others.
A proposed ordinance would modify county code to:
• Rename precincts Franconia 1 and 2 to Edison 1 and 2, so as to avoid confusion because of supervisors’ recent decision to change the magisterial district’s name from Lee to Franconia. The precincts will continue to be co-located at Edison High School, 5801 Franconia Road.
• Divide the Tysons precinct, which currently caters to more than 5,000 registered voters, to create a new Jones Branch precinct. The Jones Branch precinct would operate where the Tysons precinct now does in the Providence Committee Meeting Room, 7921 Jones Branch Drive. The Tysons precinct would move to a county-owned facility at The Parc at Tysons, 8508 Leesburg Pike, where it would accommodate future growth in the urban center.
• Rename Oak Marr precinct as Oaktree Crossing. County officials in March 2021 relocated Oak Marr precinct from Oak Marr RECenter to the Oakton Library to make voting more accessible to the precinct’s 4,000 voters. Following the recent redistricting, the county created a small new precinct, Island Pond, which operates out of Oak Marr RECenter.
• Relocating Difficult Run precinct permanently to the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax at 2709 Hunter Mill Road in Oakton. County officials relocated the precinct there on an emergency basis on Sept. 12, 2021, after leaders of its previous site, the Church of the Good Shepherd at 2351 Hunter Mill Road, notified the county’s Office of Elections that the church no longer would be available for voting. The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax would provide separate voting rooms for Difficult Run precinct and its regular precinct, Oakton.
• Rename Spindle 1 precinct as just Spindle and have it continue to operate at Centreville Regional Library, 14200 St. Germain Drive. That precinct now is co-located with the Spindle 2 precinct, but county officials determined after the November 2022 election that the library logistically could not support two precincts. The proposed ordinance would relocate Spindle 2 precinct to Bull Run Elementary School, 15301 Lee Highway in Centreville, and rename it Robinson Mill precinct.
The March 7 hearing is set for 4 p.m. that day and may occur later – but not earlier – than that time, depending on items preceding it. Supervisors will address the proposal more than three months ahead of the next election, the June 20 primary, so as to give adequate notice for voters who would be affected.
Adding a new precinct costs the county $23,865 on a one-time basis to pay for voting equipment and election supplies and notify voters affected by the change. The county also will incur an annual cost of $4,800 to staff the new precinct with election officers for at least two elections.
