Along with the commonwealth’s U.S. House delegation and one of its two senators, voters in Virginia are deciding two constitutional amendments and a host of local races and bond issues.
The counting has taken longer than usual, because of the large number of absentee and mail-in ballots cast. And it’s not over: Mail-in ballots that were postmarked by 5 p.m. Tuesday are still accepted and counted if they get to the local board of elections by noon Friday. There won’t be any more publicly announced vote counts until at least then.
Read about the races for U.S. Senate and House in Virginia.
While all precincts in the area have reported, all results are unofficial until they have been certified by the Virginia Department of Elections Nov. 16.
That said, here’s what we know about the races and questions in the WTOP listening area:
Constitutional amendments
The Associated Press has projected both of the two proposed amendments to the Virginia constitution have been approved by voters.
The first proposed amendment would set up a nonpartisan commission for drawing the boundaries for legislative districts.
The district-boundary commission would comprise eight members of the General Assembly and eight members of the public who would draw new lines for congressional and assembly districts. The full assembly would then vote on these lines, but couldn’t change them, and the state Supreme Court would draw the lines if the commission or the assembly couldn’t agree.
The second amendment prohibits taxation on one vehicle each for veterans who have “a 100% service-connected, permanent, and total disability.”
Arlington County
County Board chair Libby Garvey, a Democrat who has been on the board for eight years, has a solid lead over Arlington Transportation Commission member Audrey Clement, an independent — 71.6% to 26.6%, with 55 of 55 precincts reporting.
On the School Board, Cristina Diaz-Torres and David Priddy are leading substantially over Symone Walker in the race for two seats.
All four bond questions, totaling $144.5 million, appear to have majority support.
Among them is a $29.9 million bond request for Metro projects and other transportation projects; $3.6 million of parks and recreation bonds; $7.5 million worth of bonds for improvements to fire stations, courthouse complexes and other county facilities; $53 million worth of bonds for maintenance projects and renovations at Arlington Traditional School, Key Elementary School, McKinley Elementary School, Williamsburg Middle School and Wakefield High School; and about $51 million worth of bonds for the county’s stormwater program.
Fairfax County
Voters appear to have approved $400 million worth of bond questions, including $90 million for libraries; $112 million for developing and maintaining parks; $79 million for health and human services facilities and $160 million for Metro, specifically the county’s share of the agency’s capital improvement program.
And in Herndon, Vice Mayor Sheila Olem has a comfortable lead (61.5% to 37.8%) over federal government program manager Roland Taylor in the race for a new mayor to succeed Lisa Merkel.
Cesar A. del Aguila (13.66%), Pradip Dhakal (13.51%), Sean M. Regan (13.16%), Naila Alam (12.29%), Signe V. Friedrichs (12.27%) and Jasbinder Singh (12.25%) are the top six vote-getters for the six seats on the Town Council. That said, Clark Hendrick (10.92%) is only 475 votes behind Singh for the last spot.
Dhakal, del Aguila and Friedrichs are incumbents.
Falls Church
Debbie Schantz-Hiscott, a Falls Church PTA president, has about 50% of the vote in the special election to succeed Council Member Dan Sze, who died in July after a battle with cancer. She’s up against Joshua Shokoor, who worked in the city’s Housing and Human Services Department and Housing Commission; and Simone Pass Tucker, an activist, community advocate and campaign volunteer.
Loudoun County
Four bond questions for the county seek to issue more than $308 million in debt. The absentee ballots have been counted, and all four questions are leading comfortably so far:
- $123 million for school projects such as renovations to the Douglass School, school facility upgrades and alterations, school security improvements, and installing a welcome center at Sterling Elementary School;
- $29 million for public safety projects, including expanding the Fire and Rescue Training Academy and building a Philomont Fire and Rescue Station—a project that has drawn controversy from the community, and for which the department will now study alternatives such as renovating the current station;
- $3 million for parks and recreation projects, such as ongoing work on Philip A. Bolen Memorial Park near Leesburg and Scott Jenkins Memorial Park near Hamilton; and
- $151 million for transportation projects such as building sections of Braddock Road and widening Loudoun County Parkway between Ryan Road and Shellhorn Road.
In Hillsboro, Mayor Roger Vance and council members Amy Marasco, Claudia Forbes, Stephen Moskai and Laney Oxman are running for reelection in an election being conducted, as is tradition, entirely by write-in votes. Vance said he supports Lisa Franke for the fifth spot on the Town Council. Since they’re write-in votes, they’ll have to be counted by hand.
In Leesburg, Mayor Kelly Burk is running for reelection for the seat she has held since 2017. She served as vice mayor from 2015 to 2016. She’s facing Ron Campbell, who has served on Leesburg’s Environmental Advisory Commission and Technology and Communications Commission. Burk is the apparent winner with 12 of 12 precincts reporting and about 71.9% of the vote.
On the council, incumbents Zach Cummings (14,144, 29.39%) and Ara Bagdasarian (12,100, 25.14%) and challenger Kari Nacy (10,938, 22.73%) are the top three vote-getters so far in the race for three seats, while incumbent Bill Replogle trails (10,571, 21.97%).
In Round Hill, Jesse Howe is running unopposed for the Town Council seat to which he was appointed after Amy Evers resigned June 30.
Manassas City
Michelle Davis-Younger, a Democratic human resources professional and small business owner, leads Theresa Coates Ellis, a Republican Manassas City Council member, by 7,903 to 7,514 with seven of seven precincts reporting (including absentee votes). They’re running to succeed Mayor Hal Parrish, who decided not to seek a fourth term.
On the council, incumbents Ian Lovejoy, Mark Wolfe and Pamela Sebesky are leading challengers Tom Osina, Harry Clark and Lynn Forkell Greene with seven precincts reporting (including absentee ballots).
There are four open spots on the School Board, with only three names – Carl Hollingsworth and incumbents Robyn Williams and Suzanne Seaberg – on the ballot.
Manassas Park
With four of four precincts reporting, including absentee ballots, Democratic Mayor Jeanette Rishell faces a challenge from independent Michael Carrera.
On the City Council, incumbent Donald Shuemaker and challengers Darryl Moore, Laura Hampton and Yesy Amaya are running for three seats.
Prince William County
In Dumfries, incumbent Brian Fields and newcomers Shaun Peet and Tyrone Brown are running for three seats on the Town Council. According to the state board of elections, each candidate received about 30% of the vote and will each have a seat on the council.
WTOP’s Nick Iannelli contributed to this report.
