After long lines for early voting, Election Date is finally here. so far, the county has unofficially reported more than 399,600 votes cast. County officials say this is 70 percent of the total votes cast in the 2016 presidential election and 50 percent of registered county voters have already cast their ballots. Here’s a breakdown of what you need to know before you head to the polls today.

Casting Your Ballot

All polling places will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Reston. An acceptable form for identification is required. Voters are encouraged to wear masks or face coverings and remain socially distanced using markers placed outside polling places to help voters stand six feet apart. Note that several Fairfax County Park Authority polling sites will be open only to voters today, including Frying Pan Farm Park Visitor Center in Herndon.

Voters can return mail-in ballots at a ballot drop-off box, which will be available at every polling place today (Tuesday). A 24-hour box outside the Fairfax County Government will be available until 7 p.m. Ballots that are mailed must be postmarked by Nov. 3. If you plan to use a drop-off box, make sure the “b” envelope is inside your returning mail envelope. Further instructions, which will help the county process ballots faster, are available on the county’s website.

What’s On Your Ballot

The following is a breakdown of what to expect on your ballot. Sample ballots are available online.

President and Vice President

• Joseph R. Biden, President and Kamala D. Harris, Vice President: Democrat
• Donald J. Trump, President and Michael R. Pence, Vice President – Republican
• Jo Jorgensen, President and Jeremy F. “Spike” Cohen, Vice President – Libertarian

Member, United States Senate

• Mark R. Warner – Democrat
• Daniel M. Gade – Republican

Member House of Representatives, 11th District

• Gerry E. “Gerry” Connolly – Democrat
• Manga A. Anantatmula – Republican

The Town of Herndon

Town residents will vote for a new mayor from two candidates: Sheila Olem and Roland Taylor. Eight residents are running for six seats on the Herndon Town Council. You can read their candidate statements in the links below, if they provided to Reston Now.

• Stevan M. Porter
• Pradip Dhakal
• Sean M. Regan
• Naila Alam
• Cesar A. del. Aguila
• Signe V. Friedrichs
• Jasbinder Singh
• Clark A. Hedrick

Constitutional Amendments

Amendment #1 proposes that the creation of a redistricting commission with eight General Assembly members and eight state citizens o draw congressional and state legislative districts. The General Assembly would vote on the changes without proposing any changes. If the commission fails to draw districts or the General Assembly fails to enact districts by set deadlines, the responsibility of drawing districts would fall on the Supreme Court of Virginia.

Amendment #2 is written as follows: Should an automobile or pickup truck that is owned and used primarily by or for a veteran of the United States armed forces or the Virginia National Guard who has a one hundred percent service-connected, permanent, and total disability be free from state and local taxation?

Bond Questions

Public libraries: Shall Fairfax County, Virginia, contract a debt, borrow money, and issue bonds in addition to the public library facilities bonds previously authorized, in the maximum aggregate principal amount of $90,000,000 for the purpose of providing funds, with any other available funds, to finance the cost to provide public library facilities, including the construction, reconstruction, enlargement, and equipment of existing and additional library facilities and the acquisition of necessary land?

Transportation bonds: Shall Fairfax County, Virginia, contract a debt, borrow money, and issue bonds, in addition to the transportation improvements and facilities bonds previously authorized, in the maximum aggregate principal amount of $160,000,000 for the purpose of financing Fairfax County’s share, under the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Compact, of the cost of constructing, reconstructing, improving, and acquiring transportation improvements and facilities, including capital costs of land, transit facilities, rolling stock, and equipment in the Washington metropolitan area?

Community health and human services bonds: Shall Fairfax County, Virginia, contract a debt, borrow money, and issue bonds, in addition to the human services facilities bonds previously authorized, in the maximum aggregate principal amount of $79,000,000 for the purpose of providing funds, with any other available funds, to finance the cost to provide community health and human services facilities, including the construction, reconstruction, enlargement, and equipment of existing and additional community health and human services facilities and the acquisition of necessary land?

Parks and parks facilities bonds

Shall Fairfax County, Virginia, contract a debt, borrow money, and issue bonds, in addition to the parks and park facilities bonds previously authorized, in the maximum aggregate principal amount of $112,000,000 for the following purposes: (i) $100,000,000 principal amount to finance the Fairfax County Park Authority’s cost to acquire, construct, reconstruct, develop, and equip additional parks and park facilities, to preserve open-space land, and to develop and improve existing parks and park facilities; and (ii) $12,000,000 principal amount to finance Fairfax County’s contribution to the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority to acquire, construct, reconstruct, develop, and equip parks and park facilities?

Other Items of Note

Voters should call the Fairfax County Police Department’s non-emergency number at 703-691-2131 to report any disruptions to voting. The following activities are prohibited by state law:

• Loitering, campaigning or congregating within 40 feet of a polling place’s entrance
• Using a loudspeaker within 300 feet of a polling place
• Falsely assuming or exercising the powers, duties or functions of any county, city, state, or federal law-enforcement officer.

Results will be available on the Virginia Department of Elections’ website. Absentee ballots may be accepted until noon on Friday, Nov. 6.

Reston’s North County Governmental Center is one of the most popular spots for early voting in Fairfax County.

While turnout through the county — and country — is high, the Reston location has seen one of the highest turnouts of the county’s 13 satellite voting locations.

Overall, voters are coming out in droves in the county. So far, 301,000 ballots have been cast in total — almost more than 2.5 times more than the total number of absentee votes cast in 2016, according to county officials.

More than 7,300 ballots have been cast at the North County Governmental Center followed by about 6,100 ballots at the Herndon Fortnightly Library and 1,400 at Great Falls Library, which is only open on Saturdays and opened for voting on Oct. 17.

(10/28) Early voting just underway at 1 pm at North County Governmental Center in Reston. 100+ voters in line – If you’re getting in line now, expect 1.5 to 2 hour wait. #HunterMill #VoteEarly pic.twitter.com/WBVUJnVNKU

— Supervisor Walter Alcorn (@WalterAlcornFFX) October 28, 2020

County officials caution that wait times are still long.

“It takes 25 minutes or much longer depending on the place, day and time when voting,” said county spokesperson Brian Worthy.

The county has added two extra hours for early voting tomorrow (Thursday) and Friday. The change applies to 13 early voting sites, which typically open at 11 a.m. The hours at the Fairfax County Government Center remain unchanged.

Other than long waiting times, voting operations have been going relatively smoothly. The county swiftly moved to expand the number of satellite locations following arduous waiting times earlier this month.

While most voters have been masked, some residents have complained about party representatives failing to do so.

Worthy noted that while all individuals are encouraged to wear face coverings, the actions of party representatives cannot be controlled outside the 40-foot limit where campaigning is allowed.

The deadline for early voting this year is 5 p.m. on Oct. 31. Absentee ballots can be delivered by hand until 7 p.m. on Nov. 3 or by mail until noon on Nov. 6.

At this point, Worthy said it’s unclear how this year’s voting procedures will be adapted in future elections.

“After the 2020 election is finished, the Fairfax County Office of Elections will look at any lessons learned–but it’s too early to look back in the past since the office is focused on Election Day which is now just [six] days away.”

If you’re standing in line at North County Governmental Center for early voting – the Reston ⁦@fairfaxlibrary⁩ has magazines, books and kids activity packets to make your wait enjoyable! #HunterMill #RestonLibrary pic.twitter.com/AYwflNulkG

— Supervisor Walter Alcorn (@WalterAlcornFFX) October 28, 2020

Extra Early Voting Hours Added — The county has added two extra hours on early voting tomorrow (Thursday) and Friday. All sites will now open at 11 a.m., except for the Fairfax County Government Center, where voting still begins at 8 a.m. [Fairfax County Government]

Local Officer Honored for Being ‘True American Hero’ — Weblos, Den 1, Pack 913 from St. Joe’s honored Officer Murn for being a “true American hero.” [Herndon Police Department]

Reston Collects 303 Pounds of Old Meds — The Reston District Station and Reston Hospital Center collected 303 pounds of old medicines during the 19th annual National Drug Take Back Day this past weekend. [Fairfax County Police Department]

Photo by Elizabeth Copson

Dense Fog Advisory In Effect — The National Weather Service has issued a dense fog advisory until 10 a.m. today. Drivers should slow use, use car headlights, and leave plenty of distance between vehicles. [NWS]

Solutions Proposed to Reduce Early Voting Wait Times — With less than two weeks until Election Day, Fairfax’s NAACP President Sean Perryman says that the county should improve wait times for early voting. He sent a letter to county officials calling on measures like extending voting hours. [WJLA]

Reston Contractor Wins $135M Task Order — “Reston-based AceInfo Solutions LLC  announced Tuesday it had been awarded a potential five-year, $135 million task order from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).” [Virginia Business]

Photo via vantagehill/Flickr

This is an opinion column by Del. Ken Plum (D), who represents Reston in Virginia’s House of Delegates. It does not reflect the opinion of Reston Now.

In a campaign that promises “fair maps” by voting yes for Amendment #1 on the ballot this election cycle and the opposition that promises “fair districts” by voting no, there is little wonder that there would be confusion in the minds of voters. As a strong supporter of Amendment #1, I turned to Ballotpedia, a nonprofit whose mission is to inform people with neutral content about politics, to define objectively what a yes or no vote means on the Virginia ballot question: (ballotpedia.org)

 

A “yes” vote supports  transferring the power to draw the state’s congressional and legislative districts from the state legislature to a redistricting commission composed of state legislators and citizens.

 

A “no” vote opposes  transferring the power to draw the state’s congressional and legislative districts to a redistricting commission, thus keeping the state legislature responsible for redistricting

If you are interested as I am in ending partisan gerrymandering of legislative districts, you will vote “yes.” I am not alone in my belief that this is the best vote. The Amendment is supported by the League of Women Voters, AAUW, ACLU, Common Cause, Princeton University Gerrymandering Project, Brennan Center for Justice, AARP, leading political scientists, historians and law professors in Virginia, and the major newspapers in the state

As Dr. Samuel Wang, a Princeton University professor and director/ founder of the Princeton Gerrymandering Project, and his associates wrote in an opinion column in the Virginia Mercury, an online newsletter, ” We are proud to endorse Amendment 1 because never before has the Commonwealth seen such an open and transparent redistricting process. Such citizen involvement will help protect communities that have split up in the past.” (September 16, 2020)

Eight professors from Virginia’s largest and most prominent universities including three from the University of Virginia contributed to an article that appeared in the January 29, 2020, Richmond Times Dispatch stating “As scholars of elections and redistricting, we believe this Amendment represents an unprecedented opportunity to strengthen Virginia’s democracy–one that we cannot afford to miss.”

David Daley, a senior fellow at FairVote and author of Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn’t Count, wrote in a column in the Washington Post on November 22, 2019, “Politicians usually do a lousy job of regulating themselves. But if this (Amendment #1) moves forward, it would be the strongest set of redistricting reforms to ever emerge from a state legislature in American history.”

Editorial writers at the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star could not have been more direct than when they wrote on September 19, 2020, “Vote ‘Yes’ for Amendment 1, which will keep politicians from choosing their voters.”

The Washington Post has had several editorials in support of Amendment #1 including most recently on September 27, 2020, stating that “If the constitutional amendment is approved by Virginia voters, they would be the likely winners, and baldfaced partisan gerrymandering in Richmond would sustain a mortal blow.” They also suggested that “To imagine that rejecting the amendment, and leaving redistricting in the hands of the legislature, would produce fairer and more balanced maps is to believe in leprechauns and forest sprites.”

If you have not already voted or made your plan to vote, please do so. The process of voting this year could not be easier, and the stakes could not be higher for the state and the nation!

File photo

A Review of Bonchon in Plaza America — “Locals can now celebrate the reopening of area restaurants, and for Reston residents, a big culinary–and exotic–treat has opened in Plaza America, a few doors down from Whole Foods. That’s Bonchon, a Korean restaurant group that offers both traditional and modernized Korean chicken dishes, plus much more. For anyone who craves chicken in any way, shape, or form, Bonchon is an ideal destination.” [Reston Connection]

Lasagna Love Helps Fight Food Insecurity — An association manager professional from Reston is using her love for cooking to help feed people facing food insecurity to the pandemic. [Reston Patch]

New Pumping Carving Contest Comes to Reston —  Reston Association is challenging residents to create designs on pumpkins in “The Greatest Pumping Carving Contest.” Winners will be announced on Oct. 30. Registration is required. [RA]

More Time to Register to Vote— A federal court has extended Virginia’s voter registration deadline after an accidentally clipped fiber optic cable took down the Department of Elections website on Tuesday for hours on the final day of voter registration. Voters in Virginia will now be able to register until 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, in person or online. [NPR]

Photo via vantagehill/Flickr

Voters in Fairfax County will have more options to cast ballots beginning Oct. 14.

While long lines have plagued the Fairfax County Government Center since early voting began, 13 satellite voting locations will open on that day.

Additionally, a secure drop-off box will be available at the North County Government Center, which is located at 1801 Cameron Glen Drive, on. Oct. 14. Other drop-off boxes will be available at early voting sites during early voting hours only. 

The Virginia General Assembly allowed drop-off boxes in anticipation of increased demand for absentee voting in this election. Ballots can be returned at any election site from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

In-person early absentee voting will run through Oct. 31.

There's no line to use this secure #ballotdropbox outside the Fairfax County Government Center. Come at your convenience, 24/7.#election2020 #2020election #votebymail #mailinballot #trump #donaldtrump #joebiden #bidenharris2020 #vote #vote2020 pic.twitter.com/bdHaghrZ0j

— Fairfax County Votes (@fairfaxvotes) September 30, 2020

County Expands Early Voting… Early —  The Fairfax County Government Center will be open for early voting his Saturday, Oct. 10 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., one week earlier than planned. A total of 14 locations will open on Oct. 14. [Fairfax County Government]

Reston Cybersecurity Firm  Acquired by Baltimore’s ZeroFox — “Cyveillance, a Reston-based business unit of LookingGlass Cyber Solutions Inc., has been acquired by Baltimore cybersecurity firm ZeroFox.ZeroFox CEO James C. Foster said his company will absorb Cyveillance’s more than 130 employees and over 100 customers through the acquisition.”  [Washington Business Journal]

FCPD Visits Communities for National Night Out — “National Night Out is a way for residents to connect with their local police officers and engage in fun activities with neighbors. Fairfax County Police Department had more than 40 events scheduled throughout the county tonight, including a parade in Reston to stop and visit with community members.” [Local DVM]

Photo via vantagehill/Flickr

Senior Girl Scout Builds Turtle Platform — Mercer Thomas built a turtle platform on Lake Thoreau as part of her Gold Award to help the turtle population in Reston. Thomas needs the community’s help to track her project. [Reston Association]

Final Construction of STEAM Project Underway — Students from South Lakes High School’s STEAM team is working on the final construction phase of “Part & Parcel,” a temporary sculpture to be installed in the Lake Thoreau spillway in Reston. [Public Art  Reston]

Metro Plans Next Phases of Reconstruction, Capital Projects — “Metro will rebuild deteriorating outdoor platforms at Arlington Cemetery, Addison Road, and four Green Line stations north of Fort Totten next year, continuing its robust capital program to keep the system safe and reliable for the next generation of riders.” [Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority]

Reports of Stolen Campaign Signs Increase — “With less than a month until Nov. 3, and 2020’s contentious political climate, local police and sheriff’s departments are fielding reports of stolen, damaged and vandalized campaign signs.” [WTOP]

Photo via vantagehill/Flickr

If you’ve been to absentee in-person voting and the lines have seemed particularly long, you’re not alone.

Fairfax voters have been lining up at 12000 Government Center Parkway to cast their ballots early and avoid election day crowds, only to find themselves in long lines with other early voters turning up in record numbers.

Some said the numbers seemed to swell yesterday after the debate, but Public Information Officer Brian Worthy said the numbers have been pretty consistent.

“At least to me, it doesn’t seem like the lines are any longer, and I’ve been here at the Government Center for every day of early voting since it began,” Worthy said.

Last night's debate leading to even longer lines in Fairfax County- with still no extra rooms opened to allow people to vote faster. Limit of 5 voters to voting room, where they have to fill out paperwork, get checked in then fill out ballot. Complete debacle.

— Ben Tribbett (@notlarrysabato) September 30, 2020

Worthy said COVID-19 precautions have made wait times longer than usual.

“Since the start of early voting on Friday, Sept. 18, we have had two polling places open in the Government Center, and… we’re limiting the number of people in at any one time for the safety of both voters and poll workers,” Worthy said.

“Similarly, we’re keep the line outside because it’s safer for voters to wait there rather than inside the building. As result of COVID, voting is taking longer.”

A county employee at the location said despite the long lines, it was a fraction of what the line was like on previous days.

Two voters, Karen and James Shaver, said they watched the debate the previous night. They described it as “loud” but said it didn’t sway their vote.

In addition to the long lines, voters have endured harassment and attempts to keep people out of the building from supporters of President Donald Trump.

As you can see here they are blocking the entrance to the voting site. #EarlyVoting #VA #FairFax pic.twitter.com/KJ6fbLdP3G

— Anthony Tilghman (@AnthonyTilghman) September 19, 2020

Worthy said the lines should be alleviated by plans to open up satellite facilities for voting later this month.

“We’re opening additional early voting sites on Oct. 14,” Worthy said. “We’ll have 14 additional locations open that day (including the Government Center) with a total of 15 starting on Saturday, Oct. 17.”

Voting facilities in the Reston area include Herndon Fortnightly Library and Great Falls Library.

Public Safety Input Set Set for Today — Fairfax County public safety officials will hold an input session today at 6:30 p.m. Residents and organizations will offer testimony on various public safety issues. [Fairfax County Government]

Urbanist Issues in Town of Herndon Elections — Silver Line development issues are at the forefront of what most candidates are talking about, including two candidates running for mayor and eight candidates running for all of the six seats on the council. [Greater Greater Washington]

Cool Green Bags of Food for the Need — “Sixty-one volunteers will be fanning out over Northern Virginia this Saturday with one simple mission — to pick up green bags packed with food donations to help people experiencing food insecurity.” [Reston Patch]

Photo via vantagehill/Flickr

Local Career Fair Coming Soon — The Fairfax County Economic Development Authority is hosting a virtual and respelling career fair on Oct. 8 from 1-4 p.m. The fair is open to all industries and levels of experience. [FCEDA]

A Thank You from Reston Association — Nathan Wheeler, RA’s aquatics facility supervisor, thanked RA members in a recent video for their patience with this year’s abridged and varied pool season. [Reston Today]

Early Voting Continues in Fairfax County — So far, Fairfax County residents have cast 7,760 in-person votes during the first week of early voting at the Fairfax County Government Center. Voting is open on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. [Fairfax County Government]

Photo via vantagehill/Flickr