More than a dozen candidates will vie for six seats — four held by adults, two by teens — on the McLean Community Center’s governing board this spring.
The community center announced on Friday (March 22) that 10 adults and five teens have qualified to run in this year’s board election, which has one more open seat than usual with current board member Ari Ghasemian resigning at the end of March.
Ghasemian’s empty seat will be filled by the fourth-highest adult vote-getter, who will serve the remaining year in his term. The other adult seats are for three-year terms, while the two youth seats — one representing the McLean High School area and the other representing Langley High School — have one-year terms.
Two existing board members — Lisa Mariam and Matt Colsia — are seeking to retain their seats, but they will need to fend off eight newcomers: Tarek Atia, Jonathan “Slade” Broom, Mike Drabyk, Doug Jeffery, Ronald Keesing, Michael Monroe, Peter Pin and Peggy Richardson.
There are three candidates for the Langley seat — Anastasiia Dudnik-Dubiniak, Sonya Thott and Luke Understein — and two for the McLean High School seat — Aanya Jain and Aaron Stark.
Open to residents of MCC’s tax district, absentee voting will begin this Wednesday (March 27) and continue until 5 p.m. on Monday, May 13. Ballots can be requested in person at MCC (1234 Ingleside Avenue), online, by phone at 703-744-9348 or by email at elections@mcleancenter.org.
The election will conclude with a day of in-person voting during McLean Day, which will take place from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday, May 18 at Lewinsville Park (1659 Chain Bridge Road).
MCC’s 11-person volunteer governing board guides policy and oversees the organization’s budget and strategic planning.
Provided by MCC in a press release, statements from each of the candidates can be found below. The statements will be available on the community center’s website once absentee voting begins. Read More
Perhaps Nikki Haley’s rally in Idylwood last week made a difference after all.
In yesterday’s Republican presidential primary, the former South Carolina governor won more support from Fairfax County voters than frontrunner Donald Trump, though she trailed the one-time president by a sizable margin in Virginia overall.
According to preliminary results from the Fairfax County Office of Elections, Haley received 48,007 votes (57%) compared to Trump’s 33,752 votes (40%). The four other candidates on the Republican ballot combined for 2,038 votes, though none of them were seeking the nomination anymore.
Chris Christie and Vivek Ramaswamy left the race before early voting started in January, while Texas pastor Ryan Binkley suspended his campaign in February. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who dropped out and endorsed Trump on Jan. 21, led the also-rans with 923 votes, including 771 that were cast yesterday (Tuesday).
In total, 83,797 ballots were cast in Fairfax County’s Republican primary — a roughly 10.6% turnout. The vast majority of votes (72,238) came in the day of the primary, though mail ballots will be counted until noon on Friday (March 8) as long as they were postmarked on or before election day.
As of this morning, Trump has drawn 63.3% of the vote in Virginia’s Republican primary, getting 33 delegates as part of a Super Tuesday haul that puts him close to the 1,215 delegates needed to secure the GOP nomination. With 34.6% of the Virginia vote, Haley gained six delegates, but after trailing in all of yesterday’s primaries except for Vermont, she announced today (Wednesday) that she will end her campaign.
Biden prevails in Democratic primary
Over in the Democratic primary, President Joe Biden garnered nearly 89% of votes in Virginia, including 51,612 (86.6%) of the 59,812 votes cast in Fairfax County, according to unofficial results.
The Fairfax County Democratic Committee said it was “thrilled with last night’s outcomes” in both the Democratic and Republican contests.
“With President Biden’s sweep in Virginia we are committed to keep the commonwealth blue as we head into the November election,” the FCDC said. “We are further heartened by the significant loss of Former President Trump in Fairfax County as it underscores local rejection of the divisive politics employed by his and Glenn Youngkin’s party.”
Though no serious primary challengers to the sitting president emerged, Marianne Williamson received 5,989 votes in Fairfax County, and Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips got 2,211 votes.
It’s unclear why voters cast ballots for those candidates, but in some states, activists have urged Democrats to withhold their vote from Biden to protest his handling of Israel’s war on Gaza. A Listen to Virginia Coalition, a spin-off of the original “Listen to Michigan” campaign, asked voters to cast ballots for Williamson instead, since Virginia doesn’t have an “uncommitted” or write-in option.
Biden has been allocated 1,497 delegates so far and needs 1,967 to officially win the Democratic nomination, which will be determined at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, on Aug. 19-22. The Republican National Convention is scheduled for July 15-18 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Fairfax County saw a total turnout of 18.15% for yesterday’s primaries, a decline from the 34.2% of voters who participated in the last Democratic presidential primary in March 2020. The most recent Republican presidential primary was in March 2016 and had a 20.8% turnout.
Updated at 6 p.m. — The GW Parkway has reopened after closing for the snow, the National Park Service announced, though both north and southbound traffic is limited to a single lane in the construction area.
Earlier: Like the snow that triggered them, facility closures and service delays are piling up in Fairfax County.
After Fairfax County Public Schools determined last night that it will have a snow day today (Friday), the Fairfax County government announced shortly before 7 a.m. that it will instead close and grant employees administrative leave — a reversal of an earlier plan to operate as usual.
The closure includes the Fairfax County Government Center, which means that early voting for the 2024 presidential primaries won’t start today as scheduled. Instead, early voting will begin tomorrow (Saturday) from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Fairfax County, Mount Vernon and North County government centers.
The closure also applies to all Fairfax County Park Authority facilities and the county’s circuit, general district and juvenile and domestic relations courts. Neighborhood and Community Services has also preemptively postponed the “Stuff the Bus” food collection event that was scheduled for tomorrow (Saturday) outside the West Falls Church Giant (7235 Arlington Blvd).
Due to the snow, the start of #earlyvoting has been rescheduled to tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 20.
Three locations will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.: https://t.co/ma58h6E061#VoteEarly #GoVote pic.twitter.com/LHHTXAI2yc
— Fairfax County Votes (@fairfaxvotes) January 19, 2024
Inclement Weather Update (Friday, January 19, 7 a.m.)
❄️FCPA facilities are closed all day.
❄️Classes, camps and events held at Rec Centers and FCPA facilities are cancelled.
Please check the website for more info on closures before visiting: https://t.co/mv3MG2V0md pic.twitter.com/jOs3ypYZFf— Fairfax County Parks (@fairfaxparks) January 19, 2024
For the second time this week, the northern section of the George Washington Memorial Parkway from I-495 in McLean to Spout Run in Arlington has been temporarily closed to traffic due to the weather.
“This closure is necessary to ensure the proper treatment of the roadway and to restore the parkway to safe travel conditions,” the National Park Service said. “Crews will work diligently to treat the road for safe passage of drivers. Drivers should anticipate delays in reopening the northern section of the parkway as crews are required to use smaller equipment than usual to accommodate the lane widths and configurations.”
The NPS has said that it will shut down the roadway, which is under construction, if two or more inches of snow are forecast.
Other travel impacts include reduced Metrobus service, including some suspended routes and detours. Fairfax Connector is operating regular service, but some routes are making detours, particularly in the Herndon area.
A light snow is expected to continue falling into this afternoon, potentially adding another one to two inches, according to the Capital Weather Gang, which reported that more than three inches had already been recorded at Dulles International Airport before 9 a.m.
That snowfall comes on top of the two to five inches that fell on Monday and Tuesday, most of which hadn’t yet melted. That storm was the first time that the D.C. area had gotten over an inch of snow since 2022.
The National Weather Service, which has a Winter Weather Advisory in effect for the D.C. area through 7 p.m., warns that visibility will stay reduced along the I-66 and Route 50 corridors.
Light to moderate snow and reduced visibilities continue along and north of I-66/US-50 through this afternoon. Slick travel concerns will continue with a refreeze tonight as low temperatures fall into the teens. #MDwx #VAwx #WVwx #DCwx pic.twitter.com/p8klfUSsqV
— NWS Baltimore-Washington (@NWS_BaltWash) January 19, 2024
8:47 am: Light snow falling now seems likely to persist into afternoon. Some bands moderate/briefly heavy. 1-2" can fall before it winds down: https://t.co/fqTPCFWPIS
So far..
2.3 inches at National (6.4 this week)
3.1 inches at Dulles (7.5 this week) pic.twitter.com/ZGjmA15RKh— Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) January 19, 2024
Updated at 10:15 a.m. on 1/19/2024 — With the county government closed due to snow, the start of early voting has been delayed to 9 a.m.-5 p.m. tomorrow (Saturday), the Fairfax County Office of Elections announced.
Earlier: Early voting for the 2024 presidential primary election is set to begin tomorrow (Friday) Saturday (Jan. 20) in Fairfax County, with local party officials and campaign strategists projecting varied voter turnout.
While the Fairfax County Democratic Committee (FCDC) anticipates a lower turnout among its members, at least one local Republican strategist expects a strong showing from Republican voters, particularly in support of former president and current GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.
“Donald Trump remains far and away the favorite candidate of Virginia Republicans, including Northern Virginia Republicans, as far as I can tell,” said Nathan Brinkman, founder of the political consulting firm Brinkman Media, whose prior clients include the Fairfax County Republican Committee, as well as other local candidates.
Starting this Friday, Jan. 19 next week, early voting will be available on weekdays at three key locations — the Fairfax, Mount Vernon, and North County government centers, according to the county’s election office.
Voters can cast their ballots at the Fairfax County Government Center from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., while the Mount Vernon and North County centers will welcome voters from 1-7 p.m. There is also a 24-hour ballot drop-off box available outside the Fairfax County Government Center.
An additional 13 early voting sites are set to open starting Saturday, Feb. 24, from 1-7 p.m. Early voting will be offered on two Saturdays, including Feb. 24 and March 2, at all sites.
- Burke Centre Library
- Centreville Regional Library
- Franconia Governmental Center
- Great Falls Library
- Herndon-Fortnightly Library
- Jim Scott Community Center
- Lorton Community Center
- Mason Governmental Center
- McLean Governmental Center
- Sully Governmental Center
- Thomas Jefferson Library
- Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library
- West Springfield Governmental Center
Who’s on the ballot
As of today (Jan. 18), Virginia has the following Republican and Democratic presidential candidates on the ballot:
- Chris Christie (R)
- Ryan Binkley (R)
- Vivek Ramaswamy (R)
- Donald J. Trump (R)
- Gov. Ron DeSantis (R)
- Nikki Haley (R)
- President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D)
- Marianne Williamson (D)
- U.S. Rep. Dean Benson Phillips (D)
(Note: Republicans Chris Christie and Vivek Ramaswamy have suspended their respective campaigns, but neither candidate has officially withdrawn from the race in Virginia, according to the Virginia Department of Elections.) Read More
(Updated at 10 a.m. on 11/16/2023) A week after polls closed, the next mayors and councils for the towns of Vienna and Clifton have been decided.
The Fairfax County Electoral Board certified the local race results for this year’s general election yesterday (Tuesday), including for a Vienna Town Council contest where write-in votes exceeded votes for two of the seven candidates on the ballot.
However, none of the submitted candidates received enough votes to shift the outcome of the race, according to the Fairfax County Office of Elections. Vienna Transportation Safety Commission chair Beth Eachus, who began campaigning as a write-in candidate in September, received 1,803 of the 2,073 write-in votes, county election officials said.
The names and vote totals of the other write-ins weren’t identified.
Instead, budget analyst and former Fairfax County School Board candidate Sandra Allen has secured the last of six council seats with 2,053 votes — just seven more than the 2,046 that went to Shelley Mountjoy, a former community college professor and creator of the Vienna Votes outreach project.
Allen will join Vienna Planning Commissioner Jessica Ramakis and Board of Architectural Review Chair Roy Baldwin as newcomers to the council. All three incumbents — Howard Springsteen, Chuck Anderson and Ray Brill — won reelection.
A total of 5,981 ballots were cast in the town council race — a 48.5% turnout rate for the town’s 12,323 registered voters, according to the county elections office.
With voters allowed to choose up to six candidates, the 22,463 votes cast broke down as follows:
- Howard J. Springsteen — 3,535
- Jessica Ramakis — 3,465
- Charles “Chuck” Anderson — 3,418
- Ray Brill, Jr. — 2,951
- Roy J. Baldwin — 2,922
- Sandra Allen — 2,053
- Shelley Mountjoy — 2,046
- Write-in votes — 2,073
Mayor Linda Colbert also won a second term after running unopposed.
This was the Town of Vienna’s first November election since the Virginia General Assembly adopted a law in 2021 requiring all municipal elections still held in May to move.
Clifton mayor defeated by write-in votes
While Vienna didn’t see a successful write-in campaign, Clifton Mayor William Hollaway has been unseated after receiving 62 votes — five fewer than write-in candidate Thomas Peterson, according to the Virginia Department of Election results. A total of 131 votes were cast.
A lawyer, Holloway hasn’t faced any official opponents since 2010, when he was first elected as mayor.
His successor will be a familiar face for the town’s 330 residents. Peterson previously served as mayor of Clifton in 2006 to 2010, and his family runs the popular Peterson’s Ice Cream Depot.
Peterson told NBC4 that his wife had encouraged him to run after the candidate filing deadline had passed. His campaign consisted of just 10 yard signs, but Clifton voters “were excited to actually have a choice for the first time in 12 years,” NBC4 reported.
The Clifton Town Council race, which featured five official candidates vying for five seats, also saw a write-in victor in Mary Hess, who received 71 of the 471 total votes cast — more than incumbents Stephen Effros (65) and Darrell Poe (48).
Fairfax County’s overall voter turnout for the 2023 general election ended at 41.1%, a slight drop from the last time local races were on the ballot in 2019, according to the county elections office. The 323,816 ballots tallied include 3,900 provisional ballots and 9,476 mail-in ballots received after Election Day on Nov. 7.
(Updated at 10:55 a.m. on 11/10/2023) About 40% of registered Fairfax County voters participated in this year’s general election, which decided state and local representatives who will shape policies on issues from abortion to land use in the coming years.
As of Friday (Nov. 10), 308,855 of the county’s 787,171 registered voters cast a ballot — a 39.2% turnout rate, according to unofficial results from the Virginia Department of Elections.
(Correction: The Virginia Department of Elections results previously indicated that 382,573 ballots had been cast in the election, a 48.6% turnout rate. This story has been revised to reflect the updated numbers.)
That falls short of the 44.3% turnout and 315,836 ballots cast in 2019, when the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, school board and all General Assembly seats were last up for grabs.
However, it still exceeds the turnout seen in earlier election cycles dating back to the beginning of this century, which hovered around 32% with a low of 30.3% in 2015, per county returns.
Eric Spicer, Fairfax County’s director of elections and general registrar, declined to comment on this year’s turnout numbers or speculate on “why they may differ from past years.”
The general election on Tuesday (Nov. 7) continued a trend of increased early voting that began after Virginia expanded absentee voting to all registered voters in 2020. This year, the county received 36,859 mail ballots on election night alone — more than the total number of absentee votes (36,584) in the 2019 general election.
There were 64,371 ballots cast through early voting, which ran from Sept. 22 to Saturday, Nov. 4, though the vast majority of voters still went to in-person polls on Election Day. Mail-in ballots will be counted until noon on Monday, Nov. 13, as long as they were postmarked on or before Nov. 7.
All election results, including for the still-to-be-determined Vienna Town council race, will be certified as final on Tuesday, Nov. 14.
Democrats celebrate near-sweep
The status quo largely held in Fairfax County, at least in terms of political parties, as candidates endorsed by the Democrats won every state contest and almost every local contest on the ballot.
Sheriff Stacey Kincaid and Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano were both reelected with no official challengers, though Descano’s opponent for the Democratic nomination, Ed Nuttall, endorsed a write-in campaign.
Descano’s victory was matched in Arlington by Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, who also first took office in 2020 on promises of criminal justice reform. Their Loudoun County counterpart, Buta Biberaj, however, is trailing by around 1,000 votes.
“Thank you to the people of Fairfax County for choosing me to serve another four years,” Descano said in a statement highlighting his reform efforts. “…I’ve still got a lot of fight in me — and we’ve got the momentum on our side. I’m eager to keep working for the people of Fairfax, and to realize a future where safety and justice do walk hand-in-hand.”
I've still got a lot of fight in me — and we've got the momentum on our side. I'm eager to keep working for the people of Fairfax, and to realize a future where safety and justice do walk hand-in-hand.
— Steve Descano (@SteveDescano) November 8, 2023
Chris Falcon, a deputy clerk for the Arlington Circuit Court, defeated retiring Fairfax County Circuit Court Clerk John Frey’s chief deputy clerk and chosen successor, Gerarda Culipher, with nearly 63% of the vote. Falcon has pledged to make circuit court cases accessible through Virginia’s statewide case information system.
With Democrats set to control both the state Senate and House of Delegates, the Fairfax County Democratic Committee characterized the results as “a clear rejection of the radical Republican agenda” in favor of “abortion healthcare rights, public education, gun safety, voting rights, and more.” Read More
Vienna residents will have to wait a few more days for the results of the town’s first-ever November election.
While Mayor Linda Colbert was easily reelected in an uncontested race, the makeup of next year’s town council remains less clear, thanks to a slew of write-in votes that could determine one of the six open seats.
According to preliminary results from yesterday’s general election, all three incumbent council members in the running — Howard Springsteen, Chuck Anderson and Ray Brill — have secured new two-year terms.
Seeking an eighth term on the council that he first joined in 2009, Springsteen received 3,349 votes, or 15.78% — the most of the seven candidates on the ballot. He was closely followed by Vienna Planning Commissioner Jessica Ramakis (3,265 votes, 15.38%) and Anderson (3,248 votes, 15.3%). Rounding out the likely winners are Brill (2,807 votes, 13.22%) and Vienna Board of Architectural Review chairman Roy Baldwin (2,756 votes, 12.98%).
Officially duking it out for the final seat are Shelley Mountjoy (1,907 votes, 8.98%) — a former community college professor and creator of the Vienna Votes outreach project — and Sandra Allen (1,898, 8.94%), a budget analyst who previously ran for an at-large Fairfax County School Board seat.
However, both women trail the 1,997 write-in votes counted so far, which account for 9.4% of all votes. While it remains to be seen who all those votes were for, Vienna Transportation Safety Commission chair Beth Eachus launched a late campaign in September as a write-in candidate.
The Fairfax County Office of Elections, which manages the town’s elections, is currently tallying the votes, but the final results won’t be known until they’re certified next Tuesday (Nov. 14), according to election officials.
“The Electoral Board is ultimately responsible for determining who the votes were cast for, along with the final tally for write-in votes cast,” Fairfax County Director of Elections Eric Spicer told FFXnow. “Mail-in ballots that arrive by noon on Monday, Nov. 13 will also need to be counted. Final elections results will not be available until the Electoral Board certifies them on Tuesday.”
Per the county’s unofficial results, there were 21,227 votes cast in the town council election, with each voter allowed to mark up to six candidates. In total, 5,638 ballots were cast in Vienna’s four precincts for a roughly 45% turnout of the 12,323 registered voters in the town, election officials say.
That easily surpasses the 16.9% turnout for the last town council race in 2021, when Springsteen and fellow incumbents Steve Potter and Nisha Patel competed against then-planning commissioner David Patariu for three seats.
The Virginia General Assembly passed a law in 2021 shifting all municipal elections from May to December. The move was intended to encourage more participation and reduce administrative costs, though some Vienna elected officials worried that local issues would get overshadowed by county, state and national races.
In response to the change, the town council voted in November 2021 to eliminate the staggered terms that put three seats on the ballot at a time. Going forward, all six council seats will be up for election every two years.
Propelled by a near-sweep of races in Northern Virginia, Democrats have retaken control of the Virginia House of Delegates and retained control of the state Senate.
With a few races still to be called early Wednesday, Democrats appear to have won at least 51 seats in the 100-member House and 21 seats in the 40-member state Senate, according to results compiled by the Virginia Public Access Project. This will mark the third consecutive election that control of the House has shifted — Democrats wrested it away from Republicans in 2019 but lost it in 2021.
The final makeup of the Senate appears likely to remain very similar as Democrats currently hold a 22-18 majority. Late Tuesday night, only one Senate race was in doubt – in the Tidewater area’s 24th District. In that race, Republican Danny Diggs led incumbent Sen. Monty Mason by only 51 votes out of more than 60,000 cast — a margin that, if it holds, means the race is probably headed to a recount.
The House, meanwhile, will flip from a 52-48 Republican majority to at least a 51-49 Democratic majority, based on Tuesday’s unofficial results. Three House races, primarily in the Richmond and Tidewater areas, remained to be called early Wednesday morning.
The results are a repudiation to Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, whose Spirit of Virginia PAC poured millions of dollars into key races in an effort to hold the House and win control of the Senate. Youngkin hoped that control of both houses of the General Assembly would allow him to further his legislative agenda, including banning abortions after 15 weeks, except in certain cases.
Many national observers also thought that GOP victories Tuesday could lead Youngkin to make a late entry into the 2024 presidential election.
Emphasizing the importance of the Northern Virginia suburbs, Youngkin wrapped up the campaign with a rally in Leesburg on Monday night and an appearance on “Fox & Friends” Tuesday morning from Manassas.
Redistricting following the 2020 Census moved more seats to rapidly growing Northern Virginia, although nearly a third of legislators statewide retired or decided not to seek reelection because they were placed into districts with fellow legislators. State and national Democrats also poured millions of dollars into the campaigns, which were the most expensive in Virginia history.
As was expected, Democrats won all the General Assembly seats in Fairfax and Arlington counties and the city of Alexandria, along with those in eastern Prince William County and eastern Loudoun County, which have become more Democratic in recent years. Read More
(Updated at 12:35 a.m. on 11/8/2023) The Democratic Party’s hold in Fairfax County remains strong, despite Republican efforts to make headway by centering issues from high taxes and “parental rights” in public education to highway tolls.
Preliminary general election results show that candidates supported by the Democrats, either officially or through endorsements, are in line to win every seat on this year’s lengthy ballot — except for Springfield District supervisor.
Seeking a fifth term on the Board of Supervisors, incumbent Pat Herrity is beating Democratic challenger Albert Vega by roughly 14 percentage points, or around 5,000 votes, as of 10:30 p.m. That would be a more comfortable victory than the one Herrity had in 2019, when he edged out Linda Sperling by just 439 votes.
If the current results hold, Herrity will once again be the only Republican on the 10-seat Board of Supervisors, and all 12 Fairfax County School Board seats, along with the county’s entire General Assembly delegation, will be held by Democrats.
Sheriff Stacey Kincaid and Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano are on track for reelection, though about 22% of the ballots cast for the county’s top prosecutor are write-ins. While the results don’t show the names that voters put forward, a write-in campaign for Ed Nuttall — Descano’s opponent in the June Democratic primary — got endorsed by him and the Fairfax County Republican Committee.
In addition, Democrat Chris Falcon, currently the deputy court clerk in Arlington, won the circuit court clerk race with 62% of the vote, even after Republican Gerarda Culipher got endorsed by current Clerk John Frey, who’s retiring after 32 years.
The three open seats on the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District‘s five-person board of directors will also go to candidates endorsed by the Democrats. Voters also approved a $435 million school bond referendum that will fund construction and renovation projects and the installation of security vestibules.
With nearly all precincts reporting, here are the apparent winners of this year’s general election:
Board of Supervisors
- Chairman: Jeff McKay
- Braddock District: James Walkinshaw
- Dranesville District: Jimmy Bierman
- Franconia District: Rodney Lusk
- Hunter Mill District: Walter Alcorn
- Mason District: Andres Jimenez
- Mount Vernon District: Dan Storck
- Providence District: Dalia Palchik
- Springfield District: Pat Herrity
- Sully District: Kathy Smith
School Board
- At Large: Ilryong Moon, Ryan McElveen, Kyle McDaniel
- Braddock District: Rachna Sizemore Heizer
- Dranesville District: Robyn Lady
- Franconia District: Marcia St. John-Cunning
- Hunter Mill District: Melanie Meren
- Mason District: Ricardy Anderson
- Mount Vernon District: Mateo Dunne
- Providence District: Karl Frisch
- Springfield District: Sandra Anderson
- Sully District: Seema Dixit
(Updated at 2:25 p.m. on 11/7/2023) Early voting is over, and Election Day 2023 is less than 24 hours away.
Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. tomorrow (Tuesday). Virginia now allows same-day registration, though those voters will cast provisional ballots that are counted and validated later by the Fairfax County Electoral Board.
Mail ballots can be placed at dropboxes at all polling sites throughout the day. They can also still be sent to the Fairfax County Office of Elections (12000 Government Center Parkway, Suite 323) but must arrive by noon on Monday, Nov. 13 to be counted. In addition, the voter’s year of birth and the last four digits of their social security number needs to be written on the return envelope in lieu of the previously required witness signature.
As of last Wednesday (Nov. 1), almost 9% of registered voters had voted early in person or returned a mail ballot, amounting to about 64,000 votes, according to Fairfax County election officials. Last time this election cycle came around in 2019, there were 36,584 absentee votes total and an overall 44.3% turnout.
This year’s general election is focused on local and state offices, with every Board of Supervisors, school board and General Assembly seat up for grabs. Vienna is also holding mayoral and town council elections in November for the first time.
Board of Supervisors
Chairman
- Jeff McKay (D)
- Arthur Purves (R)
McKay, the incumbent, was elected in 2019 after serving as supervisor of the Franconia District — then known as Lee District — since 2008. Citing mental health services and pedestrian safety among his top priorities this year, he faces a challenge from Purves, president of the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance and a frequent critic of the county’s taxation and spending practices.
Braddock District
- James Walkinshaw (D)
- Carey Campbell (I)
No Republican candidates came forward to challenge Walkinshaw, who also didn’t get pulled into the Democratic primary in June. Chief of staff for Rep. Gerry Connolly before getting elected in 2019, he is once again facing off with independent Carey Chet Campbell, a Green Party member who’s now on his sixth campaign for Braddock District supervisor.
Dranesville District
- Puneet Ahluwalia (R)
- Jimmy Bierman (D)
Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust, who’s retiring after four terms in office, has endorsed Bierman as his successor. The McLean resident and former Dranesville District Democratic Committee chair has identified diversifying the local economy, addressing climate change and creating “viable transportation options” as his top priorities.
Bierman is squaring off with a Livingtston Group lobbyist and former Fairfax County Republican Committee first vice chairman. Calling politicians “out of touch” and “out of control” on his website, Ahluwalia lists his key issues as property taxes, public safety, education, recreation and the pay raise approved earlier this year for the incoming board.
Franconia District
- Rodney Lusk (D)
- Paul Beran (R)
- Mark T. Welch (I)
When he launched his reelection bid last year, Lusk told FFXnow that he hopes to continue championing affordable housing, full funding for schools, bicycle and pedestrian safety improvements and criminal justice reform.
Affordable housing is also a priority for Beran, who says he founded the advertising company Advertel. Per his campaign website, the Republican candidate is also focused on public safety, education and creating a “Great American Walk of Fame” to honor war heroes, first responders, historic figures and others along Richmond Highway, among other issues.
Welch, a longtime Springvale resident and former federal government employee, told On the MoVe that his priorities, if elected, would be “keeping the tax rate stable, improving public safety and focusing education dollars for the classroom.” Read More
