County Board Chair Matt de Ferranti says he is providing steady leadership in uncertain times, while primary challengers say he has much to answer for.
Julie Farnam and James DeVita are attempting to unseat de Ferranti in the primary next Tuesday, Aug. 4. The winner becomes the odds-on favorite in the Nov. 3 general election against independents Audrey Clement and David Sisson.
Falls Church could consolidate all Election Day voting in a single location, if the General Assembly supports doing so next year.
The city currently is divided into three voting wards, with two voting in different parts of the Falls Church Community Center and the third at Oak Street Elementary School.
Arlington voters next year will be able to select up to 10 candidates in ranked-choice elections, more than triple the number currently available.
New ballot scanners set to arrive in Arlington before this year’s Aug. 4 state primary allow for ranking up to 10 contenders. But existing ballot markers, used to assist voters with disabilities, will not be replaced until next year.
A controversial proposal to build 47 townhouses in the Waverly Hills neighborhood is returning for discussion at an upcoming County Board meeting.
Last month, Board members deferred a vote on the project, which staff opposes but neighborhood organizations and county advisory commissions largely support. It’s one of several items up for consideration at the Board meeting on Saturday.
The first Republican contender in the redrawn 7th Congressional District made his pitch to Arlington Republicans this week.
Douglas Ollivant, a Culpeper County resident and managing partner of a strategic consulting firm, is for now the only announced candidate in the 7th District as approved by voters on April 21, although more could be on the way.
New county grants worth $80,000 seek to support renewed vibrancy in the Green Valley neighborhood — although leaders acknowledge the funding may not go very far.
The funds, which will be split among four organizations, will “jump-start some neighborhood activity that would bring neighbors together, create an environment of civic engagement and civic exchange,” Board member Takis Karantonis said.
Arlington has overwhelming voted yes for the statewide congressional redistricting amendment, which has now been approved by Virginia voters.
As of 10 p.m., with all Arlington County precincts reporting, the “yes” vote led by 80% to 20% for no. Statewide the race was much closer, with 51.3% for yes and 48.7% for no.
Roughly 37% Arlington voters have cast ballots in the statewide redistricting referendum as of this afternoon.
About 14% of voters visited a polling place as of 1:30 p.m., while 23% of local voters cast ballots early, according to the latest numbers from Arlington’s elections office.
Backers of ranked-choice voting (RCV) believe this fall’s congressional races may bolster their case for changing the format of statewide elections.
If Virginia voters approve the congressional redistricting constitutional amendment on April 21, crowded ballots in many parts of the state could lead to future representatives being selected by an unusually small sliver of the overall electorate.
Virginia’s attorney general plans to challenge an executive order by President Donald Trump that would add more restrictions and federal oversight to mail voting.
Attorney General Jay Jones (D) has indicated plans to join top elections officials in states like Oregon and Arizona, who pledged to mount legal opposition to the executive order within minutes of Trump signing it — arguing that the president was illegally encroaching on the right of states to run elections.
Prominent voting rights advocates are applauding a new executive order returning Virginia to a multistate voter roll program and limiting when voters can be removed from the rolls before elections.
An executive order signed earlier this week by Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) reverses Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R)’s 2023 decision to leave the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), a nonpartisan organization that shares voter registration and identification data between 26 member states.
The Falls Church city registrar is advising against using the Postal Service to send mail-in ballots in Virginia’s statewide redistricting referendum.
Especially when it gets close to the April 21 vote, city registrar David Bjerke warned that mailing ballots back to the city’s election office too close to the deadline could result in their invalidation.
