Making ranked-choice voting permanent and potentially banning campaign signage on local rights-of-way top the agenda for County Board members’ meeting this weekend.
Other items scheduled for discussion at the Saturday meeting include an $8 million contract for Wilson Blvd street improvements, a $5 million contract for a culvert replacement on N. Dumbarton Street and a hearing on relocating the Madison Community Center’s early voting site during renovations there.
Frequent local candidate Audrey Clement was attacked over the weekend while gathering signatures for another Arlington County Board run, ARLnow has learned.
The incident happened just before 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 7, outside of Arlington Central Library in Virginia Square.
It’s still far from clear what the district boundaries will be, but two more congressional candidates pitched their case to Arlington Democrats last week.
Del. Dan Helmer (D-10), of Fairfax County, became the first candidate seeking the redrawn 7th Congressional District seat to launch a bid in front of county Democrats.
Arlington’s two main political parties are driving opposing messages as early voting on Virginia’s congressional redistricting referendum began this morning (Friday).
The Arlington County Democratic Committee’s rank and file voted to support the redrawing of the commonwealth’s 11 congressional districts at a Wednesday meeting.
Arlington Democrats have officially endorsed School Board Chair Bethany Zecher Sutton’s bid for a second term.
Zecher Sutton was the lone candidate to seek the party’s endorsement prior to the Feb. 27 filing deadline. As a result, the planned May caucus was canceled, and party members unanimously voted to support her on Wednesday.
An Arlington County Board candidate is threatening legal action if the county government places new limits on people’s ability to put campaign signs in public medians.
“I guarantee you that if they try to pass legislation to ban median signs, I will file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the law as a violation of my First Amendment rights,” James DeVita told ARLnow. “I will also seek an injunction to prevent any such law from going into effect.”
Virginia’s two U.S. senators have endorsed Rep. Don Beyer (D) in his bid for reelection in Virginia’s 8th Congressional District.
Senators Mark Warner (D) and Tim Kaine (D) both announced their support for Beyer yesterday (Wednesday), according to a press release from Beyer’s campaign.
More outreach to Latino, older and younger voters is needed if Arlington wants the community to more fully embrace ranked-choice voting, new survey data suggests.
The majority of respondents — 66% — said they either strongly or somewhat supported the voting format in a government-funded voter survey conducted immediately after the November general election. Only 26% were strongly or somewhat opposed, and the remainder were undecided.
Arlington’s never-ending campaign cycle saw both Democrats and Republicans gearing up for battle over the past few weeks.
The Arlington County Democratic Committee is “focused on winning, doing everything we can to ensure Democrats win,” party chair Paul Ruiz said at Democrats’ monthly meeting on Feb. 4.
Political campaign signs could soon be a thing of the past on Arlington medians.
County Board members in March are expected to consider a staff recommendation that would prohibit all signage — commercial, personal and political — on county-owned median strips and areas between sidewalks and roadways.
Legislators representing Arlington are advancing matching bills to extend elections offices’ deadlines for receiving and counting absentee ballots.
HB 82 and SB 58, introduced by Del. Adele McClure (D-2) and State Sen. Barbara Favola (D-40), respectively, call for moving the deadline from noon to 5 p.m. on the third day after an election.
While questions around congressional redistricting will remain unresolved for months, campaigns for two seats that could represent Arlington are in full swing.
For now, all eyes are on an April 21 statewide referendum on whether to authorize dramatically redrawn districts for the U.S. House of Representatives. But that isn’t stopping candidates, political parties and officials in Arlington from launching into election season.
