It was chill and gray and wet for Election Day here in Virginia. One of the new times and dates in our new electoral system is in a few minutes. That is 7:00PM, when the polls close. Which of course is subject to local variance- if you are in line at a polling station at closing time, you will be permitted to wait and cast your vote. So if you haven’t, there is still time. At official closing time, though, all the absentee votes can begin to be counted. According to some sources, absentee ballots postmarked before the polls close can be counted up to three days late.
The complaints so far have some interesting features. Fairfax County officials complained over the weekend that 300,000 absentee ballots had not been processed quick enough to be returned and postmarked to be counted. Fairfax also decided to issue ballots that did not include the “last four”of the voter’s social security number. That appears to be contrary to Virginia law, but who follows laws any more?
Early on Election Day there were reports that some voters were turned away from voting for failure to wear masks. That is a violation of Virginia law, and widely bounced around as a voter suppression means, presumably because Republican voters use mask aversion as a political statement. Since some polling stations are in school buildings which legally require masks for school use, there is a possibility that some poll workers can’t tell the difference between school mandates and state law, which supersedes them. We will see if that is more widespread than the early reports indicate.
Democratic candidate Terry McAulliffe had a strange close-out for his campaign Monday afternoon, featuring Radni Weingarten, the school union official who was instrumental in keeping schools closed during the pandemic. Education seemed to be the key issue that turned around the Youngkin campaign late in season with McAuiliffe’s declaration that parents should have nothing to do with school curriculums.
Much of the talk in the afternoon was about the nature of the two campaigns. Some say it reflected the process observed in the Presidential election of 2020- little campaigning by Mr. Biden, low turnout at occasional events but record vote totals. Mr. Trump filling parking lots and stadiums for his with enthusiastic supporters.
So with that as current events, minutes before the polls close, we will see about the other factors. With a total voter base of a little less than 6 citizens, early voting (“in person absentee”) and absentee votes reportedly total about 1.1 million, which would have been cast before the sharp turn over the schools issue. So, that is the last lay-down from Virginia’s Piedmont. Next report will reflect what happens when the polls close.
Copyright 2021 Vic Socotra
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