A Democrat is taking over for a Republican on the Arlington Electoral Board in the new year.
David Leichtman, a veteran political activist, will succeed electoral board vice chair Richard Samp, a Republican whose term expires Dec. 31.
The seat is changing parties because Democrat Abigail Spanberger was elected governor. That means the next Republican on each of Virginia’s local electoral boards whose term expires will be replaced by a Democrat.
Circuit Court Chief Judge Judith Wheat appointed Leichtman from a list of three candidates submitted by the Arlington County Democratic Committee.
Leichtman will join Republican Dominick Schirripa and Democrat Kim Phillip on the electoral board. Schirripa is currently chair and Phillip is secretary, but those leadership positions could change in 2026.
State law requires electoral boards to have two members representing the party of the governor, with the third member representing the other major political party.
After the 2021 election, Samp was chosen by then-Chief Judge William Newman to succeed Democrat Matt Weinstein. Both Schirripa and Phillip were appointed to succeed members of their own parties: Scott McGeary and Charlene Bickford, respectively.
Leichtman serves as director of corporate civic responsibility at Microsoft. He has held a number of posts with the 8th District Democratic Committee and Democratic Party of Virginia.
Samp won praise from both of his colleagues when the Electoral Board last met on Dec. 16.
“I certainly hope to participate in elections into the future,” said Samp.
There’s a possibility that, should Republicans retake the governorship in the 2029 election, Samp might be chosen to fill the seat of either Phillip or Leichtman.
Such an event would not be unprecedented: Republican McGeary and Democrats Bickford and David Bell each had multiple stints on the Electoral Board as the governorship passed between the parties over the last 20 years.
In other local political news:
New Falls Church Electoral Board member appointed: In nearby Falls Church, Judge Wheat appointed Peg Willingham to serve as a Democratic Electoral Board member.
She will fill the remainder of the term of Renee Bergmann Andrews, the body’s longtime secretary who moved to Tysons shortly after the Nov. 4 election.
Among other civic and political activities, Willingham has served as chair of the Falls Church City Democratic Committee.
Election officials to keep watching impacts of same-day registration: It’s looking less likely that Arlington will need to expand beyond its current 54 voting precincts anytime soon. But election officials will be keeping an eye on the situation.
As part of a new strategic plan adopted by Electoral Board members on Dec. 16, election officials will begin to look at the impact of same-day voter registration on wait times at existing precincts.
There were nearly 4,500 same-day registrations handled during the 2024 presidential election, Arlington officials said. That number is expected to grow as more local residents become aware of the option, elections director Gretchen Reinemeyer said.
Those who are registered before an election takes place can move through the voting process in 90 to 120 seconds, election officials say, but those registering on Election Day at their local precinct can require up to 10 minutes to complete the process.
Too many of them at any given time could overtax both human and equipment resources at precincts, election officials fear.
If that happens, election officials could ask County Board members to carve up impacted precincts to create additional ones. Alternately, specific precincts could get more staff and equipment to address concerns.
The elections office’s goal is to keep precincts in a range of 2,500 to 3,500 active voters where possible, although currently there are nine precincts with more than 4,000 voters and two with more than 5,000.
Those figures reflect the total number of voters. Many voters use alternate means besides casting ballots at their local precinct on Election Day.
State law requires that any precinct that has more than 4,000 voters turn up at a precinct on Election Day during a presidential election be split into two or more.
For Arlington, the rise in early voting — in person or by mail — has led to fewer voters on Election Day. The county’s highest precinct count for the 2024 presidential election was 1,463 in Precinct 118 in the Courthouse area.
The new strategic plan updates one adopted in 2018. It incorporates input from the three Electoral Board members, staff and the general public.
“We solicited feedback. We have incorporated some items in,” Schirripa said.
One goal of the new document is increased public outreach. Schirripa said there were no expected outreach outcomes specified in the new document, but it would remain front and center.
“On a yearly basis, we’re going to sit down and decide what the goal for that year is,” he said. “Each year, we’ll see where we are, and we’ll grow from there.”
Issues related to election security and infrastructure are part of the new strategic plan, but were redacted from the public version of the document.
Favola brings back bill on mail-in absentee voting: Sen. Barbara Favola once again plans to try buying a little more time for mail-in absentee ballots to arrive in the hands of election officials.
Favola (D-40) is patroning legislation that would add five hours to the current deadline, which requires absentee ballots sent by the U.S. Postal Service to arrive by noon three days after an election.
Her bill would extend that until the close of business (5 p.m.) the third day after an election.
Favola first introduced the bill after hearing of cases in which the Postal Service delivered mail to election offices the afternoon of the Friday following an election. Under state law, those ballots could not be counted.
Favola won passage of the measure in the 2025 General Assembly session on votes of 23-15 in the Senate and 54-43 in the House of Delegates.
But the measure was vetoed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), who said the later deadline would cause problems as local election offices worked to certify their election counts.
“Some localities [are] already struggling with the current deadline,” Youngkin noted in his veto message.
The measure might have a more sympathetic hearing from Spanberger.
Favola’s 2026 bill has been sent to the Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections. It will be considered when the 2026 legislative session opens on Jan. 14.
