Due to budget shortfalls, Fairfax County cannot afford paper ballots for their optical scan machines, and will only be using their electronic machines - the same kind of machine that crashed in the March 10th special election.
What's more, they will not be opening the Satellite Locations around the county as they did last November. Only the Government Center will be open for In-Person Absentee Voting.
Warming Up: Why Northern Virginia Needs Congress to Address Global Warming
Come to hear from Northern Virginia’s newest member of Congress, Fairfax County’s own Congressman Gerry Connolly, about how Congress will address global warming.
What: Town Hall with Congressman Gerry Connolly, Fairfax Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Sharon Bulova, and local business leaders in a question-and-answer town hall forum for Northern Virginia residents to hear directly about ongoing efforts and opportunities in to stop global warming.
This morning I spent several hours working the phones for Jan Hedetniemi's primary bid for Braddock District Supervisor.
We are reminding strong democrats that the firehouse primary is TOMORROW between 3PM and 9PM at the Kings Park library at 9000 Burke Lake Road, with early voting TODAY at that location between 6PM and 9PM
It was particularly striking how many likely voters are still undecided on the eve of this election.
(Cross-posted at Daily Kos)
Last night I attended the election night victory party for Sharon Bulova, who was running to replace newly-elected US Congressman Gerry Connolly as Chairman of the Fairfax County (VA) Board of Supervisors. It was a tight and hotly contested race between Bulova and the odious Republican opponent, Pat Herrity.
As of this morning, Bulova has about a 1200 vote lead (PDF). I was on-hand in Fairfax to hear Bulova's victory speech, although the results are not yet considered official.
But this diary isn't really about Sharon Bulova, as great as she is. It's about the VA Governor's race and what I witnessed in the room last night.
((more))
Polls have closed in Fairfax for the Board of Supervisors Chair special election today, Feb. 3, 2009.
This is an open thread / results thread. So stay tuned.
Update, 9:45 pm, Final
Bulova: 51,949 (48.2%)
Herrity: 50,732 (47.1%)
228 / 228 Precincts Reporting & Absentees - 107,713 Total Votes
Bulova Wins!
Editor's Note, 10:20 pm: After confirming that the results do include absentees, it appears that Sharon Bulova has won by 1,217 votes. Congratulations to Ms. Bulova!
(-- promoted by code)
Apparently, Pat Herrity was so disappointed when the Washington Post endorsed Sharon Bulova for Fairfax County chairman that he had to generate a distortion of Bulova's Washington Post endorsement by repeating his own quotes in his most recent mail piece.
The Washington Post wrote that "But Mr. Herrity contends that Ms. Bulova and her Democratic colleagues increased spending recklessly in recent years and didn't do enough to gird for the current crisis." Their ringing endorsement of Sharon Bulova concluded that "it's hard to fault her."
What does this desperate candidate do? He quotes his own quote and misrepresents it as the opinion of the Washington Post. Not only that, he repeats it twice. Herrity also conveniently fails to note the Post's reaction to his aspersions. Then he goes further, misrepresenting the Post by omission. He conveniently cuts out the Post's criticism of his lack of experience and ideological orientation. Herrity also carefully shortens a passage that praised Bulova's history of fiscal responsibility.
Sharon Bulova's steady leadership pushed Fairfax County into stellar growth. Her reserve fund—which Herrity opposed—is the lifeline that today keeps Fairfax performing better than the rest of the nation in the current recession.
On the other hand, Herrity seems to confuse leadership with hypocrisy.
Tomorrow, if Fairfax democrats continue their hard work, Sharon Bulova will be elected Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, leaving her seat as Braddock’s representative on the Board open.
A firehouse primary will follow next week on Tuesday February 10, with early voting on February 9.
Thus far, three excellent democratic candidates have stepped up to run in the primary for the Braddock seat.
Here are their bios:
Jan Hedetniemi. Lifelong Democrat. Braddock Leader.
A Braddock District resident since 1985, Jan Hedetniemi has been active in Braddock and Fairfax County organizations for nearly 10 years. The following
(MORE BELOW THE FOLD)
I'm still trying to figure out how to make the embed code work for this video, but in the meantime please go check it out here:
I wrote a piece earlier today about Gov. Tim Kaine and Rep. Gerry Connolly speaking at the Annandale campus of Northern Virginia Community College. As Gov. Kaine has now taken upon the role as the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, I thought posting this video would allow people a unique opportunity to see the DNC Chairman speak about local politics in front of a crowd of people who know him well.
Gov. Tim Kaine, Rep. Gerry Connolly, and a large number of local and state level elected officials made an appearance at the Annandale campus of Northern Virginia Community College in support of Sharon Bulova's candidacy for Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. The simple fact that there were elected officials from all levels of government up on stage reinforced that we need strong leaders at all levels who can help make the difficult decisions. Perhaps most importantly, the crowd was filled with people who had spent hours upon hours making phone calls and knocking on doors to remind people to vote on Tuesday (February 3). This is extremely important because it shows how people believe so strongly in Sharon's candidacy that they are willing to brave the cold (and on some days snow) and work hard to ensure that we elect the best candidate to lead Fairfax County while important decisions must be made.
Follow me below the fold for a write up of what was said during the speeches. Also note that this is crossposted on Left of the Hill.
Folks, we are down to the wire. The only thing standing between Chairman Sharon Bulova and Chairman Pat Herrity (gasp!) is YOU. That's right, you. If you are not calling, canvassing, or posting signs for Sharon Bulova this weekend, you are not standing in the way of disaster for Fairfax Coutny government. If you are reading this, you should ask yourself what you are personally doing between now and Tuesday to get another Democratic vote to the polls before 7 pm on February 3rd.
See below the flip for information on when and where to help.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
6 pm - 8 pm
Reed Smith LLP Office
3110 Fairview Park Drive Suite 1400, Falls Church
I've had a number of people ask me about when the Special Election for Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is going to take place and how you can get more involved in the campaign. With just a week left before the election, here is some of the information that I have received about the election which will be held on Tuesday, February 3rd countywide at your regular polling place. Also similar to regular Election Days here in Virginia, the polls will be open from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and you can get more information about polling places by following this link.
For those of you who are looking to get involved with Sharon Bulova's campaign before Election Day, the FCDC website says that there will be phone banks every day. There will also be canvassing this weekend and on election day (see the FCDC website for more information). According to the campaign, there are also ways to volunteer if none of the aforementioned times work for you.
If you have volunteers who are willing to phone bank this weekend regardless of where they are in the county always try to schedule them to go to the phone bank at 7600 Colshire Dr, 4th Floor, McLean, 22102, 12am – 5pm on Sat and Sun, 5pm – 9pm on Mon, and 9am – 7pm on Tues. There will be a predictive dialer (a computer that only has you talk to live people instead of waiting for dialing and ringing) and many phone lines available at this location and we should work to fill it as much as possible first to maximize or efforts.
For more information or to schedule volunteers contact Caroline Brooks at c.mck.brooks@gmail.com, 703‐503‐2009
more below the flip
At an event in McLean on Sunday, a substantial crowd of people filed into home of Supervisor John Foust to show their support for Sharon Bulova’s candidacy for Chair of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. The excitement of the inauguration hadn’t worn off and one of the main topics of discussion was what people did on Inauguration Day and all the hope they had for the future. Despite the fact that we have a fantastic leader in the White House, people were also quick to point out that we still need to have strong leadership at the local level. Fortunately, we have a candidate in Sharon Bulova who has the ability to bring people together in order to pass meaningful legislation.
After she was introduced by Supervisor John Foust, Sharon Bulova started her speech by thanking everyone for coming out to the event. She then proceeded to talk about how Fairfax County has a highly respected school system and that it is extremely important for us to make sure this continues. What I really liked was that in bringing up this topic, she highlighted how the Board of Supervisors must be willing to work together with the School Board in order to come up with a way to maintain our superior schools during this economic downturn. This important to note because it illustrates how Sharon is looking for ways to not only reach across party lines, but also organizational lines in order to look after the best interests of Fairfax County residents.
more, including video, below the fold
Today, we had 14 Arlington Democrats travel to Vienna to knock on doors for Sharon Bulova's campaign for Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. Election season is over in most of the country, but in Virginia it's already heating up again. This special election for Board Supervisors is a big deal in a time of severe budget cuts. We need to ensure the Chairmanship stays in good blue hands.
About 250 people attended a debate between Sharon Bulova, Democrat, and Pat Herrity, Republican, hosted by the Fairfax Chamber of Commerce, headed by Kevin Reynolds, held at the Cultural Center on the Annandale campus of the Northern Virginia Community College on Thursday morning, 15 January. Bulova, representing the Braddock District in Fairfax County, and Herrity, representing Springfield, are competing to replace Gerry Connolly as Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. Connolly himself, newly installed as the US Congressman from the 11th District, was in the audience, along with many elected officials from the area. Moderator of the debate was Bruce DuPuyt from News Channel 8, and the panelists asking questions included Bruce Alan of WTOP, Beverly Kirk from News Channel 8, and Kali Schumits from the Times Community Newspapers.
Sorry this is such short notice, but for those of you who live in the 46th House of Delegates District (Skyline area of Fairfax County, and Western City of Alexandria), you have a special election tomorrow, January 13th, to replace Delegate Brian Moran who is running for Governor.
Your ballot will be:
This fundraiser/party was such a huge success, I could barely get close enough to take pictures and could barely hear what was said during the speechifying. But I had a blast. School Board member Kay Kory hosted a packed house for Jim Webb in support of Sharon Bulova for Chairman of the board. Candidates for Lt. Governor, Jody Wagner and Jon Bowerbank were there and candidate for Governor, Brian Moran came by after his Arlington event.
Bullies from the Herrity campaign have "sandwiched" Sharon Bulova's campaign signs at the intersection of Old Keene Mill Rd. and Rolling Rd. It's an old trick that obscures an opponent's signs without actually removing them. I saw some McCain supporters doing this last year, and we all know how those desperate actions paid off!
So if you're driving in Fairfax County, be vigilant and look out for sandwiching or signs that have been uprooted. Unlike the '08 elections, Sharon needs the name recognition and to raise awareness of the upcoming election. So signs are more important and effective in this campaign.
Buoyant Fairfax Democrats under the leadership of Scott Surovell gathered in force at the West Springfield Country Club for their 2009 Legislative Breakfast Sunday 4 January 2009. Taking it from the top, candidates for Governor were prominent: Brian Moran, present and working the room; Terry McAuliffe (who sponsored two tables), being represented by his wife; and Creigh Deeds, sending his regards, was prudently at two other functions elsewhere in Virginia. A swarm of elected Democrats at every level showed up, as did several hopeful candidates, representatives from labor unions, and uncounted worker bees, like me. The theme of the day was a combination of gleeful satisfaction coupled with a sobering realization that now it’s time to get back to work— and, since it’s Virginia, prepare to do it all over again beginning with the special election to replace Gerry Connolly with Sharon Bulova as Chair of the Fairfax Board of Supervisors on 3 February, followed by the regular elections in November for state offices.
Blue Commonwealth is a project of Virginia Democrats for an Enduring Majority PAC (DEMPAC). Visit the DEMPAC page to find out more.
