The chair of Arlington’s GOP is seeking 15% more local votes for statewide candidates in 2025 than the party received in 2021.
Party chair Matthew Hurtt hopes the ticket with gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears, alongside lieutenant governor candidate John Reid and incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares, can earn more than the 21,548 Arlington votes that Republican Glenn Youngkin earned in the 2021 governor’s race.
Democrats, Republicans and the Forward Party made their case to the electorate this morning (Friday) as early voting kicked off across Arlington and statewide.
“When we vote, we win,” County Board Chair Takis Karantonis said at the Arlington Democrats early-voting kickoff event held at Courthouse Plaza. It attracted about 65 attendees.
Falls Church election officials are getting ready for the start of early voting on Friday and the general election in November.
At a meeting last week, leaders provided updates on plans to send mail-in ballots, select election officers and ensure that voting equipment is good to go.
The Arlington electorate is getting new voting equipment, possibly as soon as next spring.
Electoral Board members have directed staff to begin negotiations with Unisyn Election Service Online to procure voting equipment for precincts and early-voting sites across the county.
Two nonprofits are preparing for a survey of Arlington voters’ experiences with ranked-choice voting shortly after polls close in November.
The goal is to “have the survey in the field immediately after the election, so opinions are fresh,” said Sally Hudson, executive director of Ranked Choice Virginia.
The two-month sprint to Election Day in Arlington begins next Tuesday as the Arlington County Civic Federation holds its annual candidate forum.
The Civic Federation is typically the first organization to hold a fall election-themed forum. This year, the event will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 2 beginning at 7 p.m. at the Hazel Auditorium at VHC Health.
Arlington voters will be able to select up to three County Board contenders, but no more, through ranked-choice voting this election season.
County elections director Gretchen Reinemeyer confirmed at an Electoral Board meeting on Tuesday that three will be the maximum number available to voters.
Arlington’s two Republican members of the Electoral Board appear at loggerheads over how long early-voting dropboxes should be available before Election Day.
Richard Samp, the senior Republican on the three-member panel and its vice chair, used the July 8 board meeting to press for a reduction from more than 40 days of use to just 10. Not everyone was in favor.
The Arlington County Democratic Committee has abandoned a proposal to place major restrictions on who can vote for top leadership positions.
Just a month after the Democratic steering committee floated the idea, party leaders announced at a party meeting yesterday (Wednesday) that they were pulling it from consideration.
Some of Arlington’s non-Democrat candidates for County Board see potential opportunities in the county’s ranked-choice voting system this November.
But so does incumbent County Board Chair Takis Karantonis.
Barring an appeal from one candidate who failed to qualify, Arlington’s County Board field for November is set at five.
County election officials have confirmed to ARLnow that a prospective sixth candidate narrowly missed meeting the 125-signature threshold for ballot access.
By ROBERT YOON Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Virginia Democrats will settle a crowded six-way primary for lieutenant governor on Tuesday as well as a contested nomination fight for state attorney general. Meanwhile, voters across the commonwealth will choose nominees for the state House of Delegates.
