By ANDREW CAIN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Voters in Charles City County appeared to be voting no Tuesday in an advisory referendum asking whether the county should remove a Confederate statue located next to the county courthouse. More than 55% of county voters voted no and about 45% of the county’s voters said yes.
By ERIC KOLENICH, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Voters in four Virginia cities Tuesday appeared to overwhelmingly support plans to build casinos there. Voters in Bristol and Danville approved referendums to green light casino gambling at pre-determined locations, according to unofficial results from the Virginia Department of Elections. Casinos were on track to be approved in Norfolk and Portsmouth, though not all votes had been counted by deadline.
By KATE ANDREWS, Va Business Magazine
Voters in Bristol, Danville, Norfolk and Portsmouth overwhelmingly supported local referendums allowing four commercial casinos to be built in their cities, with results declared two hours after polls closed at 7 p.m.
By RICK MASSIMO, WTOP
Along with the commonwealth’s U.S. House delegation and one of its two senators, voters in Virginia are deciding two constitutional amendments and a host of local races and bond issues. The counting has taken longer than usual, because of the large number of absentee and mail-in ballots cast.
ArlNow
To no one’s surprise, the Arlington electorate has turned out in a big way for the Democratic ticket. Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris have 80.7% of the vote to 17.1% for President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence in Arlington, with more than 120,000 votes counted and 54 out of 55 precincts reporting.
ArlNow
President Donald Trump visited Arlington on Election Day. The president greeted campaign staff at his national reelection headquarters, located in an otherwise unremarkable Rosslyn office tower, as voters nationwide continue to head to the polls. The presidential motorcade arrived around 12:15 p.m. A few dozen Trump supporters waved signs and flags across from the headquarters for the president’s arrival, as police blocked several streets in the area.
By KAREN GRAHAM, Loudoun Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
While the country was still awaiting the final outcome of the presidential election around 10 p.m. Tuesday, Democratic nominee Joe Biden won the Loudoun County vote with 61 percent compared to Republican President Donald J. Trump's 37 percent.
By STAFF REPORTS, Prince William Times
Democrats appear to have swept the races for Manassas mayor and city council, with Councilwoman Michelle Davis Younger winning the mayor's race by fewer than 400 votes. With all seven precincts reporting, Davis-Younger, a Democrat, had won 7,903 votes, or 51.2% of the ballots counted, compared to Councilwoman Theresa Coates Ellis, a Republican, who garnered 7,514 votes or about 49% of the vote.
By JOHN REID BLACKWELL, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Voters throughout the Richmond region went to the polls on Tuesday to cast their ballots in a contentious election marked by a wave of early, absentee, and mail-in voting because of the coronavirus pandemic. Some voters who cast ballots in person on Tuesday said they did so out of concern that mail-in votes could be challenged.
By C. SUAREZ ROJAS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Late Tuesday there were still no clear winners in seven of the nine Richmond City Council races. Council will have two new members next year, but with absentee ballots not yet accounted for in election results being reported on the city’s website, it was still too early to tell who those members would be
By MARK ROBINSON, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
With most results still outstanding, the winner of Richmond’s mayoral race remained up in the air as of early Wednesday. While inconclusive, early returns made clear that three candidates were jockeying for an outright victory or one of two spots in a potential runoff: incumbent Levar Stoney; Councilwoman Kimberly B. “Kim” Gray; and Alexsis E. Rodgers, director of Virginia CARE in Action.
By WHITTNEY EVANS, WCVE-FM
Voting lines in Goochland and Powhatan were long at sunrise but petered out through the afternoon. Voter Sylvia Diersen set up a Trump sign-covered tent outside the St. Mary’s Episcopal Church precinct in Goochland. She said she voted a straight Republican ticket. “There’s so much about our ticket to be proud of, and I can’t imagine not winning. I just can’t,” Dierson said. She made note of how important voting in person was to her.
By ALISSA SKELTON AND STACY PARKER, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
The mayor and four incumbent council members won their re-election bids early Wednesday morning. Mayor Bobby Dyer and three other incumbents led their races from the beginning, but Councilwoman Sabrina Wooten came from behind after midnight when early voting and absentee ballots were reported.
By PETER COUTU, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
With five of 11 seats up for grabs on the Virginia Beach School Board, a majority of voters opted to stick with incumbents. Only Dan Edwards, a long-time board member and former chair, ended the night behind trailing his challenger, Jennifer Franklin.
By RYAN MURPHY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
The house always wins. As of press time Tuesday, casino operators were poised to score big wins in both Norfolk and Portsmouth, with early totals showing voters overwhelmingly approving a pair of referendums clearing the way for casino developments in those cities.
By JESSICA NOLTE, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
A 63-year-old man was charged Tuesday with threatening to bomb a polling place in Norfolk, according to a fire department spokeswoman. Around 12:20 p.m. the Norfolk Fire-Rescue’s Office of the Fire Marshal was called to 1122 W. Princess Anne Rd. at Taylor Elementary School for a reported disturbance at the polling station.
By ANA LEY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
After four years of racially divided votes under a majority-white City Council, Portsmouth voters drastically changed course Tuesday by electing four Black candidates, including a new mayor, to lead this majority-Black city. Sitting council member Shannon Glover, who is Black, led Danny Meeks, who is white, with a comfortable margin in the race for mayor.
By ROB HEDELT, TAFT COGHILL AND SCOTT SHENK, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
Margaret Cook drove from North Carolina to New City Fellowship Church in Fredericksburg to vote in person Tuesday. Cook, whose husband is in the military, is registered in Fredericksburg and said she typically votes with an absentee ballot. But in a tense election season, she was uncomfortable with that process.
By SCOTT SHENK, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
Some morning voters in Spotsylvania County’s Lee Hill District got the wrong congressional ballots Tuesday morning. Voters who cast ballots at Lee Hill Elementary School were supposed to have the 1st District congressional race between Republican Rob Wittman and Democrat Qasim Rashid on their ballots, but the ballots listed the 7th District race between Democrat Abigail Spanberger and Republican Nick Freitas instead.
By IAN MUNRO AND KATHLEEN SHAW, Daily News Record (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Jose Y Reys-Vasquez, 64, of Harrisonburg, was excited to vote in his first U.S. election. However, when he went to vote at Thomas Harrison Middle School Tuesday, he was turned away. "I wanted to vote. It's important to choose the president, but I couldn't,” he said in Spanish. “In four more years, I’ll vote."
By LAURA PETERS, News Leader (Metered Paywall - 3 to 4 articles a month)
Scott Hensley went to vote shortly after 10 a.m. Tuesday morning. He voted at the same spot for years — the Third Presbyterian Church on Barterbrook Road in Staunton. He walked up, showed his ID and was told that the system indicated he had already vote via absentee ballot. "As 2020 continues to amaze, I went to vote this morning and was told that I already voted," he wrote on his Facebook page.
By NOOR ADATIA, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 1 article a month)
Gordon Helsel was elected mayor of Poquoson in an uncontested race Tuesday night, returning to the position after 10 years as a state delegate. Helsel, 70, has said he is looking forward to return as mayor and serving a community that welcomed him in.
By JOSH REYES, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 1 article a month)
Along with selecting their representatives at the federal level, Gloucester County residents voted in favor of a 1% sales tax increase that would support school construction, repairs and maintenance. According to complete unofficial election results, 13,436 had voted in favor of the measure and 8,248 against, a split of 62% to 38%. Advertisem
By MIKE GANGLOFF, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Election Day arrived gently across the Roanoke and New River valleys Tuesday, with little of the frenzy of the presidential campaigns that preceded it or the dread stoked by an ongoing pandemic. In Pembroke, Kristie Breeding said that this election season seemed more volatile than any other – but that she had no worries about venturing out, and bringing her 8-year-old daughter Hailee with her, to vote in person at the volunteer fire department.
By CLAIRE MITZEL, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Roanoke made history on Tuesday night when voters elected the city's first-ever majority Black city council. Incumbent Democrat Trish White-Boyd, Democrat Robert Jeffrey Jr. and independent Stephanie Moon Reynolds won the three open seats in a crowded eight-way race that came down to the record-high number of ballots cast ahead of Election Day.
By RALPH BERRIER JR., Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
The early vote came in late, but just in time for Sherman Lea. Lea, Roanoke’s first-term Democratic mayor, appeared to have fended off challenger David Bowers thanks to an overwhelming performance among voters who cast early ballots during a pandemic-affected election season.
By MIKE ALLEN, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
A majority of Franklin County voters want the statue of a Confederate soldier that stands in front of the courthouse in Rocky Mount to stay put, judging by a vote tally that was mostly complete Tuesday night. With 22 of 24 precincts reporting late Tuesday, there was more than a 3-to-1 margin in favor of the monument staying where it is.
By KIM BARTO MEEKS, Martinsville Bulletin (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Voters in Henry and Patrick counties have approved a ballot referendum to raise local sales tax by 1%, with the proceeds going to the county school districts for capital needs. Unofficial results from both localities Tuesday night showed a similar split for and against. In Henry County, 54.44% voted yes, and 45.56% voted no, with all 25 precincts reporting. Patrick County approved the measure 55.34% to 44.66%, with all 14 precincts reporting.
By DON DEL ROSSO, Fauquier Now
The Opal Precinct chief knows a little “kindness” goes a long way. Election officials at Liberty High School in Bealeton — like those at Fauquier’s other 19 polling places — take a full range of measures to protect voters and themselves from COVID-19. They wear masks and use hand and hard-surface sanitizers.
By LAWRENCE EMERSON, Fauquier Now
The Kettle Run Precinct — one of 20 polling places in Fauquier — started Election Day with the wrong ballots. A “human error” sent ballots that included the 1st Congressional District — instead of the 5th District — to the polling place at Kettle Run High School, Fauquier General Registrar Alex Ables said. The precinct scanner rejected the first 30 ballots that voters inserted soon after the polls opened at 6 a.m. and held them in an “emergency bin,” Mr. Ables explained.
By MEGAN CLOHERTY, WTOP
The community rallied to make sure 30 voters in Fauquier County, Virginia had their votes properly counted after election officials realized they had received the wrong ballot. When the county elections staff realized the mistake the morning of Election Day, the county registrar quickly organized a team to track down each voter.
By RICHARD CHUMNEY, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Brad Harris was more than happy to spend Election Day wiping down voting booths. As a member of the Virginia Medical Reserve Corps, Harris was among several medical professionals who staffed polling places Tuesday to help keep voters and election officials safe amid the coronavirus pandemic.
By PARKER COTTON, Danville Register & Bee
Danville voters — by way of a referendum — rolled the dice to allow Caesars to move forward with plans to turn a former mill site in Schoolfield into a casino and hotel resort. In unofficial results, 13,022 residents voted in favor of Tuesday's referendum and 5,941 were against.
By DAVID MCGEE, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)
Bristol Virginia voters today overwhelmingly approved the proposed Hard Rock Hotel & Casino resort planned for the former Bristol Mall property. The $400 million project received 5,547 affirmative votes compared to 2,221 votes against.
