Ranked-choice voting could soon become the default for Arlington County Board primaries in Arlington.
This weekend, the County Board is set to approve the voting method, in which residents rank candidates in order of preference. If approved, next year — when one County Board seat is up for grabs — participants in the June primary will fight to secure a 51% threshold to secure a nomination.
(Updated at 2:50 p.m.) Arlington School Board Chair Cristina Diaz-Torres will not be seeking re-election.
Diaz-Torres, who became chair this July, announced the decision last night (Wednesday) at the Arlington County Democratic Committee meeting, to a chorus of dismay from some meeting attendees.
Two women have already announced they are vying for the Arlington County Board seat currently occupied by Vice-Chair Libby Garvey, who faces re-election next year.
First-time candidate Julie Farnam and second-time candidate Natalie Roy announced today (Monday) that they have joined the Democratic primary race, set to culminate next June.
Arlington’s two state Senators have landed key leadership roles after Democrats won control of the General Assembly last week.
State Sen. Barbara Favola will continue as Majority Whip, sharing her duties with Richmond’s Sen. Lamont Bagby, according to a Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus press release. Sen. Scott Surovell, who will represent southeastern Fairfax County, is set to become the majority leader.
Last week’s election may have had few surprises locally but it shook up the Virginia State Senate and House of Delegates.
Virginia elections analyst Sam Shirazi caught up with ARLnow’s Jo DeVoe to talk about how Democrats won majorities in both legislative chambers and why Arlingtonians should look outside the county’s deep blue bubble and pay attention to state politics.
(Updated at 4:10 p.m.) Tight races for the state legislature and proposed restrictions on abortion motivated Virginians to the polls on Election Day.
This was despite the lack of statewide and federal elections, which typically drive turnout. The races for local office and the Virginia General Assembly played out against the backdrop of Republicans vying for a trifecta — control of the governor’s office as well as the lower and upper legislature chambers — and Democrats trying to stop them.
(Updated at 11:15 p.m.) It is another good election night for Arlington Democrats.
While some might have hoped for a Missing Middle-inspired upset in the two-seat Arlington County Board race, Democrats Maureen Coffey and Susan Cunningham have commanding leads over Republican Juan Carlos Fierro and independent Audrey Clement.
Election Day got off to a busier-than-expected start this morning.
As of this morning, some 9,200 voters turned out to vote today, according to the Arlington County’s Dept. of Elections.
(Updated at 4:40 p.m.) While Arlington has tended to be a Democratic stronghold, two of its incumbent state Senators who are up for re-election are still feeling the urgency of this election where abortion is concerned.
Sen. Barbara Favola is up against Republican David Henshaw for the newly redrawn 39th District and Sen. Adam Ebbin is up against Republican Sophia Moshasha for the 40th District.
The end of the election is drawing nearer: early voting ends on Saturday and Tuesday is Election Day.
At this point, the roughly 12,000 early votes cast are almost evenly split between in-person and mailed-in ballots, per the Arlington County election turnout dashboard. Some 44,000 ballots need to be returned between now and the close of the polls on Tuesday to surpass turnout in 2019, the last similar election year.
In Arlington, for local races, the primary is usually where the action is.
As a heavily Democratic county, general election races in November are less competitive than intra-party primary races earlier in the year. The upcoming Nov. 7 election will feature a dozen races for which Arlington residents can cast their votes, though seven are uncontested.
Early voting is picking up speed in Arlington while Arlington County Board candidates focus on Missing Middle and taxes.
The general election on Nov. 7 is less than two weeks away and at this point, far more people are voting early in person this year compared to 2019, the last election year without gubernatorial or presidential races.
