Renovations at a North Arlington community center have county election officials on the lookout for a new early-voting site in 2026.
Madison Community Center (3829 N. Stafford Street), which is closing in the spring for about a year of renovations, serves as a regular polling place on Election Day and one of two satellite centers open for early voting in the weeks leading up to elections.
Since the county notified election officials of the looming closure in October, they’ve been working to find alternate locations.
“We’re going to try to get this squared away,” county registrar Gretchen Reinemeyer said at an Electoral Board meeting on Tuesday.
The final say on an alternate location will rest with the County Board. Reinemeyer said she will work through the county manager’s office to provide options that meet all state election requirements.
“It’s not a question of ‘can it be done?’ but ‘does the law allow it to be done?'” she said.
At the Electoral Board meeting, Howard Solodky, the president of the Old Glebe Civic Association where the community center is located, offered some suggestions for both the June 2026 primary and November 2026 general elections, as well as for an early-voting site.
Arlington County Democratic Committee chair Steve Baker said the party’s preference was for “something as far north as possible.”
In other local political news:
Spanberger election means loss of GOP seat on Electoral Board: The Dec. 16 Electoral Board meeting was the last for vice chair Richard Samp, a Republican appointee whose term expires at the end of 2025.
Because Democrats won the governorship, the next seat on each of the commonwealth’s local electoral boards occupied by a Republican will flip to a Democrat when the term expires.
The incoming member will join Republican chair Dominick Schirripa and Democratic secretary Kimberly Phillip on the Arlington body.
Appointments to Virginia’s local electoral boards are made by the chief judge of the Circuit Court in that jurisdiction. In Arlington, that is Judge Judith Wheat.
The Arlington County Democratic Committee has forwarded the names of three nominees, Clerk of the Circuit Court Paul Ferguson told ARLnow. Wheat has the option of selecting one or requesting more names.
Samp was appointed to succeed Democrat Matthew Weinstein in 2022 following the election of Republican Glenn Youngkin as governor. Weinstein was subsequently appointed by Youngkin to a Democratic slot on the Virginia State Board of Elections, serving until earlier this year.
Wheat will also soon decide on a new Democratic member of the Falls Church Electoral Board. The individual will succeed Renee Bergmann Andrews, who resigned after the Nov. 4 general election to move to Tysons.
The Falls Church City Democratic Committee has submitted three nominees to fill the remainder of the term, Ferguson said.
Democrats have mix of contested, unopposed leadership races: Arlington Democrats will have four contested leadership races to decide early next month.
In addition to the race for chair between current deputy chair Paul Ruiz and current finance chair Tony Weaver, races with more than one candidate at the Wednesday, Jan. 7 reorganization meeting include:
- Marrett Ceo and Austin Locke are seeking the position of finance chair
- Fatima Argun and Larry Fishtahler are vying to become inclusion and equity chair
- Bryant Atkins and William Driscoll will face off for parliamentarian
The meeting will be held at Washington-Liberty High School beginning at 6:30 p.m., a half-hour earlier than regular monthly Democratic meetings.
While the gathering will be open to all, the deadline to register to vote in the reorganization caucus was Dec. 15. There will be no walk-in or remote voting.
Candidates for contested races will be allowed to give brief speeches prior to the voting.
Uncontested races include:
- Sarah Flourance for deputy chair, Rachel Halpern for precinct-operations chair, Michelle Kilkenny for voter-support chair, Daniel Visnovsky for communications director, Inta Malis for treasurer
- Bryan Coleman for outreach and visibility chair, Owen Williams for press and public-relations chair, Bokar Cherif for secretary, Nancy Pilchen for volunteer coordinator and Carol Burnett for sergeant-at-arms
All winning candidates will serve two-year terms.
Also to be elected at the meeting will be captains for the county’s 54 voting precincts. Typically, Democrats have two or three captains per precinct.
Flourance, who currently serves as the party’s communications director, said Democrats would not be releasing the total number of those who registered. But she said it represents the highest number of registrants for a reorganization vote.
The Arlington County Republican Committee will hold its reorganizational meeting in early spring. Party chair Matthew Hurtt said the most likely date was March 23, but that is subject to change.
GOP chair wins honor: Arlington County Republican Committee chair Matthew Hurtt was honored with the 2025 Governor’s Award for Unit Chair of the Year at the Republican Party of Virginia’s annual Donald F. Huffman Advance.
The award was presented for efforts by Hurtt and the Arlington GOP to improve the party’s standing in the county, which has been dominated by the Arlington County Democratic Committee since the 1980s.
Updated to reflect a change in location of the Arlington County Democratic Committee’s Jan. 7 reorganizational meeting.
