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.
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.
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.
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.
Arlington election officials have formally certified Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker’s overwhelming victory in the race to succeed State Sen. Adam Ebbin.
Across the entire district, the Bennett-Parker (D-39) won 83.4% of the vote in the Feb. 10 special election. In Arlington, she got 84.2% of the vote compared to 15.8% for Republican Julie Robben Lineberry, according to preliminary figures from the Virginia Department of Elections.
Newly proposed maps would split Arlington into two congressional districts as part of a statewide overhaul heavily favoring Virginia Democrats.
The proposal would keep a southern portion of Arlington in the 8th Congressional District, which currently encompasses all of the county and is represented by Rep. Don Beyer (D). This would extend as far south as York County in the Tidewater region.
