Voters talk near the volunteer booths as they exit the polls at Great Falls Library on Tuesday. Photo by Reena Singh.
Voters turnout kept up its pace well into work hours at Great Falls Library.
Hundreds of voters turned up to vote for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives at the library Tuesday morning, Nov. 4.
“There’s been a steady flow of people,” said Chief Election Officer Candace Sherie Bovee. “Normally, it slows down after 9 a.m., but since opening, we’ve had a lot of people come in.”
This was her first year as chief election officer, but she said the morning turnout was comparable to the last presidential election when she worked the polls as a volunteer.
“The chief who normally had the position moved out of the area, so they needed a new one,” she said.
Residents were choosing between Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Warner or Republican Ed Gillespie for the U.S. Senate Seat as well as between Dranesville Supervisor John Foust and state Del. Barbara Comstock for the U.S. House of Representatives seat.
Additionally, they were also voting whether to approve a transportation bond referendum and a state Constitutional amendment proposing to give tax exempt status to a spouse of a U.S. Military member killed in action.
Many of the voters who came out to the polls at the library were regular voters. Great Falls resident David Dixon said voting is a privilege for him because some African Americans have died trying to vote in the past.
“I vote in every election now because the country has gotten to the point where people need to get out and vote,” he said.