Virginia Voters Keep Up Record Early Voting [View all]

[mahatmakanejeeves]

SEP 29, 6:24 PM

Virginia Voters Keep Up Record Early Voting

Daniella Cheslow https://twitter.com/DaniellaCheslow

Nearly two weeks into early voting, Northern Virginia counties are still seeing thousands of people casting ballots daily, indicating a surge of voter enthusiasm as well as concerns about the mail and the pandemic.

Fairfax County spokesperson Brian Worthy estimates that some 1,000 people are voting each day. In Prince William County, about 2,000 people are voting daily, says Matthew Wilson in the county’s office of elections. In Alexandria, more than 900 people on average vote each day, according to city spokesperson Craig Fifer.

This outpouring of early voting is unprecedented, a result of multiple causes. Previously, early and absentee voters used to have to give a reason — such as being out of town, or ill — for why they could not vote on Election Day. This year Democrats in the General Assembly passed a law doing away with that requirement. Further, after the pandemic hit, voters in Virginia and across the country began requesting absentee ballots in record-breaking numbers. Finally, recent cuts in the U.S.

The result was clear at the Fairfax County Government Center last week, as a line to vote early in person snaked out from the entrance, ran down the length of a long hedge, and doubled back. ... “I don’t want to miss the chance to vote, because on Election Day it’s going to be more crowded,” said Anbesse Tesfamariam, 62, of Lorton, Va., after he waited for an hour and 15 minutes to cast his ballot. He said he was voting a straight Democratic ticket in part to preserve his access to affordable healthcare after he was laid off from his job at a parking company. Postal Service triggered panic among would-be absentee voters who worried their ballots might not arrive in time.

{snip}