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Election Day Next Tuesday
With less than a week to go until Election Day, more than a quarter of registered voters in the Rockbridge area have already cast ballots.
The offices of local voting registrars have had brisk business since early voting commenced on Sept. 20. “We’ve had a line all morning,” said Rockbridge County Voting Registrar Sheila Hall on Monday. “We’ve been busy every day. On no day have we had under 100 voters. We even had 100 on Saturday. It’s very encouraging. Both parties seem to be getting their voters out early.”
As of Monday morning, 4,309 voters had cast ballots in Rockbridge County, or 25.4 percent of registered voters. Of these, 3,712 voters had cast early, in-person ballots and 597 had mailed in absentee ballots.
In Buena Vista, 1,077 voters, or 23 percent of registered voters, had cast ballots, as of Monday morning. The breakdown was 907 early in-person voters and 170 who had mailed in absentee ballots.
In Lexington, 1,332 voters, or 30.1 percent of registered voters, had cast ballots by Monday morning. Casting early in-person ballots were 1,078 residents while 254 had mailed in absentee ballots.
Early voting continues at registrars’ offices through this Saturday, Nov. 2. Election Day is next Tuesday, Nov. 5. Polls will be open Election Day from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voters will cast their ballots at their usual precincts that day.
Rockbridge area voters will be voting for president, a U.S. senator and the Sixth District member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and answering a question on amending the Virginia State Constitution to extend certain tax benefits to surviving spouses of soldiers who died in the line of duty. Voters in Lexington, Buena Vista, Goshen and Glasgow will be voting for certain local officials.
Ballot Question
Voters will be presented with the following ballot question: “Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended so that the tax exemption that is currently available to the surviving spouses of soldiers killed in action is also available to the surviving spouses of soldiers who died in the line of duty?”
The state constitution currently exempts from taxation the principal residence of a surviving spouse of a soldier who is determined by the U.S. Department of Defense to have been killed in action. The proposed amendment would expand this tax exemption to include all surviving spouses of soldiers who are determined by the U.S. Department of Defense to have died in the line of duty.
Federal Elections
The major party candidates for president are Vice President Kamala D. Harris and former President Donald J. Trump. Harris is the Democratic Party’s nominee and her running mate for vice president is Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota. Trump is the Republican nominee and his running mate for vice president is JD Vance, a U.S. senator from Ohio.
Third-party candidates whose names are also on the ballot are Green Party nominees Jill E. Stein for president and Rudolph T. Ware III for vice president; Libertarian Party nominees Oliver R. Chase for president and Mike ter Maat for vice president; independent candidates Claudia De la Cruz for president and Karina Garcia for vice president and independent candidates Cornel R. West for president and Melina Abdullah for vice president.
Candidates for U.S. Senate in Virginia are Democratic incumbent Timothy M. Kaine and Republican challenger Hung Cao. Candidates for Virginia’s Sixth District in the U.S. House of Representatives are Republican incumbent Ben L. Cline, Democratic Party nominee Ken L. Mitchell and independent candidate Robert C. “Robby” Wells Jr.
Local Elections
Lexington’s very first School Board elections are being held, with four candidates vying for three seats. Candidates are incumbent Tammy Dunn, Meghan Ferguson, Katie Masey and Kasey Potter.
Lexington Mayor Frank Friedman is unopposed for re-election. Four candidates seeking three seats on Lexington City Council are incumbents Marilyn Alexander and Leslie Straughan, and John Driscoll and Madeleine Robinson.
Three candidates are running for two seats on Goshen Town Council. They are incumbent Stephen Bickley, Sheila L. Sampson and Jeffrey Hunter Shaffer.
In Glasgow, three incumbent members of Town Council are unopposed for reelection. They are Marcie Hill, Brandall Branch and Natalie Harris.
In a special election in Buena Vista, Jody Fix and Stanley Coffey are seeking to fill the remaining year of an unexpired term on City Council. Todd Jones was appointed to this seat earlier in the year when Tyson Cooper vacated it after being elected mayor.
