Mild weather and some heated races are bringing a lot of voters to the polls this election day.
Virginians are electing all 140 members of the General Assembly as well as a good number of local offices.
Local election officials were reporting a strong turnout earlier in the day-- less than two years ago when a governor’s race helped draw people to the polls but higher than in 2015, the last time Virginians cast ballots for the state House and state Senate in the same year.
In Charlottesville, voting officials reported 21.2% turnout as of 1 pm. That's about 17 points lower than the 1 pm turnout in the 2018 election and ten points lower than 2017. Albemarle County's registrar reported 27% turnout as of 1 pm.
By 10am in Montgomery County, just over 11% of registered voters had cast ballots, about four points lower than in 2017. In Radford, turnout was at 14%, with the registrar projecting it was on track to hit about 30%.
At noon in Virginia Beach, where there are several hotly contest seats, turnout was 17.9%, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. In 2015, total turnout hit just 22.1%.
Chesterfield County’s turnout was 30% at 2 pm, according to VPAP. That’s on par with 2017’s election, when there were statewide races on the ballot.
We are now open.
“We’re so glad you’re here to vote. We’re now open,” a pollworker cheerily declared as the sun came up on a cold, cloudy morning. The first person in line at one Blacksburg precinct was Loree Nelson. “Speaking with each other with respect but making sure that we go out to vote is critical,” Nelson said.
And only people in this state this year have a chance to change party control of a legislature, from Republican to Democrat, as Blacksburg voter Lysette Zietsman pointed out. “There are some important issues at stake and this is a precursor for the national election next year, so I think it’s important to make our voices heard.”
Younger voters helped put Democrats within a couple of seats of winning a majority in the House of Delegates two years ago. Voter Ben Huber was hoping that the number of voters in the teens and 20’s keeps rising. “A smaller election like this, not quite as much but it’s more of the premise if we get them going out to every election every year they’ll starting turning out for the years that actually matter."
Problems at a few precincts
Officials with the Department of Elections say, so far, things are mostly going smoothly across the state. But there have been a couple of voting issues.
In Richmond one precinct ran out of ballots early in the morning for about 15 minutes. It wasn’t because of unusually high turnout, but an error in planning. The precinct is in a competitive district. Officials are encouraging anyone who wasn’t able to wait for a ballot to come back before polls close at 7 pm.
In Stafford, outside Fredericksburg, some voters first thing in the morning were given the wrong ballots. The issue was fixed, but some people did wind up voting in the wrong race. Department of Elections Commissioner Chris Piper says those votes will count. One highly competitive race may have been impacted there.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.