An advocacy organization is asking county leaders to consider ending the use of schools as polling places.
In an Oct. 29 letter to County Board members, Arlington Parents for Education (APE) said finding alternative sites would allow students to go to school on election days. Current School Board policy is generally to hold a teacher workday or close its facilities, including those not being used as polling places, for elections.
Falls Church voters reaffirmed their political allegiance to Sen. Mark Warner and Rep. Don Beyer, helping the two secure easy victories last night (Tuesday).
Warner (D-Va.) garnered 6,828 votes, or 84.8%, in the city, based on unofficial Virginia Department of Elections results. He far outpaced Republican Bert Mizusawa, who received 1,199 votes or just under 15%.
With their own candidates far ahead in early returns, Arlington Democrats spent the first hours of election night in Shirlington watching the rest of the country.
The Associated Press projected Sen. Mark Warner (D) the winner minutes after Virginia polls closed at 7 p.m. It called Rep. Don Beyer’s (D) race shortly after 8 p.m., and the party’s local slate held wide leads.
As voters head to the polls for Election Day today (Tuesday), an unusually large portion of Arlington residents have already cast their ballots.
Early voting numbers in Arlington were up more than 50% from 2022, with local voters favoring in-person ballots over those cast by mail, according to data from the Virginia Public Access Project.
Several local and federal officials, three state constitutional amendments and five bond referendums are on the ballot in Arlington on Election Day tomorrow (Tuesday).
All 54 polling places in Arlington will be open from 6 a.m.-7 p.m. To cast a ballot on Election Day, voters must go to their assigned polling place, which can be found online.
Several Democratic elected officials in Arlington plan to visit all 54 of the county’s voting precincts on Election Day to thank volunteers and election workers.
The barnstorming initiative will build on last year’s informal effort by School Board candidate, now member, Monique “Moe” Bryant. She is expected to be joined on the Nov. 3 road trip by Commissioner of Revenue Kim Klingler, Treasurer Kim Rucker and others.
Early voting is running heavy in Falls Church, with about 31% of the electorate having cast ballots as of earlier this week.
More than 3,600 Falls Church voters had voted in person, by mail or via the City Hall dropbox, as of the most recent Electoral Board meeting on Monday.
A win is a win, no matter the margin of victory, say the co-chairs of a local campaign in support of school bonds.
“We do not target specific vote percentages,” Abbas Ravjani and Kari Garcia told ARLnow as they continued to promote the $80 million school bond, one of five local bond referendums on the county’s Nov. 3 ballot.
Three constitutional amendments on the Nov. 3 ballot have prompted public messages from local Democrats and Republicans, the Catholic Diocese of Arlington and a variety of advocacy groups.
Arlington Democrats are supporting all three, which focus on reproductive rights, same-sex marriage and restoration of voting rights for convicted felons who have been released from incarceration. Party members “voted overwhelmingly” earlier this year to support the trio, party officials said.
Local primary elections would cause Arlington Public Schools students to lose a day of school next June, under a current plan.
Staff are seeking permission to cancel classes on Tuesday, June 15 if primaries are needed in races for County Board, state Senate, House of Delegates or offices of treasurer, commissioner of revenue, commonwealth’s attorney and sheriff, according to a presentation to School Board members yesterday (Thursday).
Several groups known for their protests against President Donald Trump are hosting get-out-the-vote rallies in Arlington next week.
Organizers in the “No Kings” movement are planning a nationwide day of voter participation on Saturday, Oct. 17.
County Board candidates tackled questions on immigration, residential parking and housing during a Sept. 21 forum sponsored by the Lyon Village Citizens’ Association.
County Board Chair Matt de Ferranti acknowledged there’s next to nothing Arlington officials can do to intervene in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sweeps across Northern Virginia.
