The November elections: Here’s what you need to know

With Election Day less than a month away, it’s a good time to provide a guide for Annandale voters. Election Day is Nov. 8, and the polls are open 6 a.m.-7 p.m.

There are lots of changes due to redistricting, so check the new voter card you should have received in the mail several weeks ago. If you haven’t gotten voter card, contact the Office of Elections, 703/222-0776.

The cards indicate your precinct and U.S. congressional, state senate, and House of Delegates districts. There’s a list of candidates running in the Annandale area at the end of this post.

Registering to vote

If you’ve moved since the last election, you need to register to vote. The deadline for registering in person at the Fairfax County Office of Elections (12000 Government Center Parkway, Suite 323) is next Monday, Oct. 17, 4:30 p.m. An application to register to vote can be sent my mail, but has to be postmarked by Oct. 17. You can pick up an application at board of supervisors’ offices, public libraries, Department of Motor Vehicle offices, and other locations.

Absentee voting

If eligible, you can vote absentee by mail or in person at the Fairfax County Government Center or at several satellite locations, including the Mason Government Center, 6507 Columbia Pike, Annandale.

Absentee in-person voting takes place at the Mason Government Center Oct. 24-Nov. 5, Monday to Friday, 2:30-7 p.m. and Saturdays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (Absentee in-person voting sounds confusing, but Virginia doesn’t allow “early voting.”)

Precinct changes

Due to the redistricting changes approved for Fairfax County, Mason District gained two precincts: Bristow moved from the Braddock District to Mason, and Walnut Hill 2 moved from Providence to Mason.

In addition, several precincts within the Mason District have been changed:

The Walnut Hill 1,Walnut Hill 2, and Whittier precincts were combined into one precinct named Walnut Hill.
A portion of the former Sleepy Hollow precinct west of Rose Lane was moved into the Masonville precinct.
The western portion of the Barcroft precinct was moved into a newly configured Sleepy Hollow precinct, and the northwestern portion of Barcroft was added to Ravenwood.
The portion of Glen Forest 1 south and east of Columbia Pike was added to the Skyline precinct, and the remainder of Glen Forest 1 and all of Glen Forest 2 have been combined into a single precinct called Glen Forest.
Holmes1 and Holmes 2 have been combined.
What was formerly known as the Leewood precinct was added to Edsall
A small portion of the Edsall precinct south of Indian Run was added to the Weyanoke precinct.

Polling locations

Here’s where precincts in Mason District vote:

Baileys (501)—Bailey’s Community Center
Barcroft (502)—Sleepy Hollow Elementary School
Belvedere (503)—Belvedere Elementary School
Bren Mar (526)—Bren Mar Park Elementary School
Bristow (504)—Annandale Terrace Elementary School
Brook Hill (521)—Poe Middle School
Camelot (522)—Camelot Elementary School
Columbia (518)—Annandale Fire Station, Co. No. 8
Edsall (527)—St. John’s United Methodist Church
Glen Forest (505)—Glen Forest Elementary School
Holmes (506)—Baileys Elementary School
Hummer (519)—Fred Packard Center
Lincolnia (507)—Green Spring Gardens
Masonville (508)—Westminster School
Parklawn (510)—Parklawn Elementary School
Poe (523)—Thomas Jefferson High School
Ravenwood (511)—Stuart High School
Ridgelea (528)—Bethlehem Lutheran Church
Saint Albans (513)—Saint Albans Church
Sleepy Hollow (512)—Beech Tree Elementary School
Skyline (520)—Goodwin House Bailey’s Crossroads
Walnut Hill (525)—Alan Leis Center
Westlawn (515)—Westlawn Elementary School
Weyanoke (516)—Holmes Middle School
Willston (517)—Willston Instructional Center

Here’s where Annandale residents in the Braddock District vote:

Canterbury (113)—Canterbury Woods Elementary School.
Chapel (104)—Nancy Sprague Technology Center.
Heritage (106)—Braddock Elementary School.
Ravensworth (115)—Ravensworth Elementary School.

Candidates

These are the candidates vying to represent all or part of the Annandale/Mason District area. An asterisk indicates the candidate is an incumbent.

Virginia Senate
34th District—Chap Peterson* (D); Gerarda Culipher (R).
35th District—Richard Saslaw* (D); Robert Sarvis (R); Katherine Ann Pettigrew (I).
37th District—Dave Marsden* (D); Jason Flanary (R).

Virginia House of Delegates
38th District—Kaye Kory* (D); Jim Leslie (I).
39th District—Vivian Watts* (D); Dimitris Kolazas (I).
49th District—Alfonso Lopez (D).
53rd District—Jim Scott* (D).

Board of Supervisors
Chairman—Sharon Bulova* (D); Michael “Spike” Williams (R), Christopher DeCarlo (I), Will Radle Jr. (I).
Mason District—Penny Gross* (D), David Feld (R).
Braddock District—John Cook* (R), Jane Oleszek (D), Carey Campbell (I).

Fairfax County School Board
Mason District—Sandy Evans.*
Braddock District—Nell Hurley, Megan McLaughlin.
At-large—Ilryong Moon,* Sheree Brown-Kaplan, Lin-Dai Kendall, Lolita Mancheno-Smoak, Ryan McElveen, Steven Stuban, Ted Velkoff.

School board elections are nonpartisan, but the political parties do endorse candidates. Evans, McLaughlin, McElveen, Moon, and Velkoff have been endorsed by the Fairfax County Democratic Committee. The Republicans have endorsed Hurley, Brown-Kaplan, Kendall, and Mancheno-Smoak.

Other countywide races on the ballot:
Fairfax County commonwealth attorney—Ray Morrogh.*
Fairfax County sheriff—Stan Barry,* Bill Cooper. (The Republicans endorsed Cooper; the Democrats endorsed Barry.)
Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation Board—George Lamb,* Johna Good Gagnon,* John Peterson,* Thomas Cranmer. (Lamb and Gagnon have been endorsed by the Democrats. The Republicans endorsed Peterson and Cranmer.)

Also on the ballot – a $252.75 million school bond to support school renovation and upgrade projects.