An Army helicopter flies over Boundary Channel near the Pentagon (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Arlington County and neighboring jurisdictions are taking over ownership of a complaint system for reporting noisy choppers.
That means residents can continue to report loud aircraft noise to the U.S. government as it works to lessen noise by raising helicopter altitudes and altering flight paths.
These changes, announced in April, respond to years of resident complaints to Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) Two years ago, he called on the federal government to study noise levels in the D.C. area and come up with recommendations.
One of these was the PlaneNoise, Inc. platform — consisting of an automated phone line, website and smartphone application — that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) set up last year to track issues.
The system collected data that informed plans from the FAA and the Helicopter Association International to fly helicopters on new, higher paths. When this plan was announced, local officials announced the pilot complaint system would become a permanent feature and municipal coffers would pay for it.
This weekend, the Arlington County Board is slated to approve a Memorandum of Understanding among Fairfax County and the cities of Alexandria and Falls Church about sharing the costs of the platform.
Through the agreement, Arlington would pay $15,052 to Fairfax County, matching what Fairfax and Alexandria are paying. Falls Church is contributing $1,500. This will maintain the system through April 30, 2024.
During an April press conference, Arlington County Board Vice-Chair Libby Garvey said the county is “very pleased” the helicopter noise complaint platform would become a permanent feature.
“We are especially pleased that our residents could participate meaningfully in this process, and now will continue to,” she said. “In a democracy, it is crucial that people have a voice in how their government affects them.”
High View Park baseball field in Halls Hill neighborhood (file photo)
High View Park baseball field in Halls Hill neighborhood (file photo)
High View Park Sign (file photo)
A baseball field in the Halls Hill neighborhood may soon pay tribute to Alfred Forman Sr., a native Arlingtonian and respected coach.
The Arlington County Board is set to approve the new name, “Alfred Forman Sr. Field,” during its meeting on Saturday. The field is located in the historically Black neighborhood of Halls Hill, also known as High View Park, between N. Dinwiddie Street and N. Cameron Street.
It would be a fitting tribute to the man whose name already graces a longstanding tradition that takes place in the park: a football game called the Alfred J. Forman Sr. Turkey Bowl.
Forman grew up in the neighborhood and attended Washington-Liberty High School, then Washington-Lee, a county proclamation said. He served Arlington for 25 years, organizing youth and adult sports teams at the Langston-Brown Community Center and sitting on the county’s sports commission.
The Arlingtonian coached youth basketball, winning over 10 county championships, the proclamation said. He also volunteered at annual community events, including dressing up as Santa Claus for the Breakfast with Santa celebration.
He died of brain cancer in 2014. His family still lives in Halls Hill today.
The High View Park/Hall’s Hill Historic Preservation Coalition, a group of residents dedicated to highlighting the local history of the neighborhood, initially asked DPR about naming the baseball field for Forman, a county report said.
“They indicated their disinterest in considering other potential options for names,” it said. “Furthermore, if the park could not be named for Alfred Forman Sr., then the Coalition would not seek to name the currently unnamed field and would withdraw the request.”
The Park and Recreation Commission backed this request. Board approval is necessary to name or rename any park facility in the county, the report said.
Members of the neighborhood coalition worked with county staff to apply for a Historic Preservation Fund Grant to pay for a banner and sign naming Forman and explaining his significance to the neighborhood. Both will be installed if the field’s proposed name is approved this weekend.
The currently unnamed baseball field was built after the community said the area needed additional amenities in the 1965 Neighborhood Conservation Program (now known as the Arlington Neighborhoods Program) per the county report.
Today, the three-acre park has picnic areas, charcoal grills, a playground and two basketball courts with lights, bleachers and an amphitheater, in addition to the baseball field. It is surrounded by single-family and small-scale multi-family homes.
Initial renderings of the proposed Arva Apartments, looking southwest at Arlington Blvd and Pershing Drive (via Arlington County)
Annotated changes to the Arva Apartments (via Arlington County)
Annotated changes to the Arva Apartments (via Arlington County)
Annotated changes to the Arva Apartments (via Arlington County)
The Days Inn motel (via Google Maps)
An aerial view of the Arva Apartments site, where the Days Inn is, on Route 50 (via Arlington County)
A midcentury modern-inspired apartment project, heralded as the “gateway to Lyon Park,” is headed to the Arlington County Board for approval.
The 8-story, 251-unit building, with nearly 3,000 square feet of ground floor retail, would replace the Days Inn motel along Arlington Blvd, once a 1950s-era roadside motel named the “Arva,” a portmanteau for “Arlington, Virginia.”
When complete, the motel’s historic sign and lobby will be recreated. There will be protected bike lanes on both sides of N. Pershing Drive and N. Wainwright Road — a vestigial frontage road for the motel — will become a 12-foot multi-use trail with a bike “fix-it” station.
Applicant and owner Nayan Patel, doing business as Arlington Boulevard LLC, is making monetary and in-kind contributions to an on-site public space project that the Dept. of Parks and Recreation will design.
There will also be seven committed affordable units on site: 1-2 bedroom units with either a loft or den attached, as well as two three-bedroom units. The developer intends to plant 25 new, healthy trees to replace the 28 unhealthy ones that will be removed.
Although the project — dubbed the Arva Apartments — could clear the finish line this weekend, some Arlington Planning Commissioners had quibbles with the project or dug into criticisms levied by the public speakers related to tree planting and other community benefits.
The tree plantings, for instance, are “clearly an improvement, but the bar is so low to begin with,” Planning Commissioner Leonardo Sarli. “We still have to aspire to something.”
Lyon Park resident Anne Bodine, who has spoken in other meetings as a member of the slow-growth group Arlingtonians for Our Sustainable Future, says she was underwhelmed by the on-site affordable housing provision and tree planting plans.
She asked the Planning Commission to reconsider how it weighs community benefits.
“If we see these at-cost, we can better assess these trade-offs,” she said.
She said she felt the county effectively told residents it was too early to advocate for benefits during a special study of the site — completed in advance of redevelopment proposals and adopted in 2021 — but it was too late once the public review process began for this project.
Planning Commissioner Jim Lantelme had a different view.
“I do want to commend the staff and developers for how closely they did work with Lyon Park, which did participate at every phase in every meeting and they were very vocal,” he said. “They were very much involved. Their input was heard and responded to, so I think this project did evolve in response to that community process.”
Climate Change, Energy and Environment Commission Chair Joan McIntyre said this project relies too heavily on fossil fuels for its HVAC and water systems, though she was heartened to see these systems could be converted to electric in the future.
A project architect said that the method selected, counterintuitively, would emit less carbon than a fully electric system, based on an analysis of “where the electricity is coming from.”
A runner uses a rapid flashing beacon to cross N. Park Drive (staff photo)
In a bid to increase pedestrian safety, Arlington County may require drivers stay stopped for longer at crosswalks.
The Arlington County Board is set to consider on Saturday changing its code so that drivers will have to stop when a pedestrian enters an adjacent travel lane and heads their way. Currently, drivers need only yield right of way when a pedestrian enters their lane.
The change follows on a revision to state law that went into effect on July 1. The local change is another way Arlington aims to eliminate serious and fatal crashes — particularly for pedestrians, who made up one-third of serious or fatal crashes between 2018 and 2022.
“Pedestrians are one of our most vulnerable road users because their bodies are not surrounded with a metal frame and airbags,” a county report said. “It is critical for drivers to look for, be aware of, and stop for pedestrians to help get to Arlington’s goal of Vision Zero transportation deaths or serious injuries by 2030.”
In Arlington, the change would apply to local and state roads, says Dept. of Environmental Services spokeswoman Katie O’Brien. This includes major arterials that see the county’s highest concentration of serious crashes, such as Arlington, Langston and Washington boulevards and Glebe Road.
The county says the intent of its ordinance change is to reflect wording changes in state law.
This March, the state put a finer point on what drivers are required to do when they see a pedestrian looking to cross.
Before, drivers were required to “yield right-of-way to pedestrians by stopping” when pedestrians are crossing in front of the drivers.
Now, state code says drivers “shall stop” when a pedestrian is within the driver’s lane or within an adjacent lane and approaching the driver’s lane. Drivers are required to stay stopped until the pedestrian has passed their lane.
Any driver who does not stop is guilty of a traffic infraction and can face a $100-$500 fine, according to the new law.
Staff intends to inform the public of the new law via a press release, emails, and social media posts on NextDoor, Twitter and Facebook, per the report.
O’Brien says new signage will be also added.
“We are working on plans to make signage and marking changes to be in compliance with the new code,” she said.
The law also lets localities require pedestrians and cyclists to stop before crossing a highway at crosswalks without signals or face a fine of up to $100.
A trail leading to VDOT-owned land near Chain Bridge Forest (via Google Maps)
(Updated at 9:15 a.m. on 7/12/23) A secluded wooded area south of Pimmit Run in North Arlington with a little-known history is up for sale and Arlington County could become the buyer.
The county is considering whether to buy a 6.7-acre parcel near the Chain Bridge Forest neighborhood from the Virginia Dept. of Transportation for $2.88 million. The property, between a curving section of N. Glebe Road and Pimmit Run, includes both developable and protected land.
VDOT originally intended to use it for a connector road from N. Glebe Road to Route 123 (Chain Bridge Road) in Fairfax County, which it never built, the county says. It now is giving Arlington first dibs before turning to private buyers. Should the sale go through, the county would set the land aside for public open space.
The property in question sits within the historic boundaries of a near-forgotten settlement by freed Black people who worked the land from the 1850s to the 1950s, according to the county and Jessica Kaplan, a local expert on and author of a definitive 2018 article about the community.
Kaplan pieced her article together from census data, deeds, wills, maps and claims residents made against the government for property it confiscated during the Civil War.
The settlement grew after John Jackson, a free Black man, bought three acres from white landowner William Walker, who he had known since childhood, shortly before the Civil War broke out, Kaplan writes. She says it is unclear if he sold to Jackson because of their friendship or because white people were not interested because it was a low-lying, flood-prone area.
Despite those issues, Jackson went through with the purchase. Walker’s initial sale sparked a small exodus of Black families — who had either escaped slavery, bought their freedom or were born free — from Fairfax County to what is now Arlington.
In what may be a riff on the problems with the land, residents called it “The Bottom,” Kaplan writes. At its peak, 20 families lived there.
“Whether [leasees] or owners, they found relative safety in numbers and in the secluded, timber-lined hollow of The Bottom,” she said. “The Bottom remained their home through challenging times: war, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, segregation, and suburbanization.”
The presumed borders of The Bottom and the VDOT property within it (via Arlington County)
Residents eked out a living farming, tending livestock and quarrying stone, she said. During the Civil War, men helped build nearby Fort Marcy and Fort Ethan Allen while women sold baked goods and did laundry for soldiers. Some of the Union soldiers, however, raided their farms and burned the land for fuel.
With paltry government repayments for confiscated property, the families built back after the war, Kaplan wrote. They farmed, quarried stone and worked for nearby white families. Their children walked three miles to attend the closest school for Black children, then called Sumner School.
The enclave dwindled to non-existence in the 1950s as residents died, moved to other Black neighborhoods in Arlington such as Halls Hill, or left the area. Economic pressures were compounded by access: Arlington County abandoned a road running along The Bottom’s west side and circumvented it with the new N. Glebe Road to Chain Bridge.
Investors ended up owning all the land comprising The Bottom, eventually selling to the U.S. government. Kaplan says the community “became the anchor for an overpass of the George Washington Memorial Parkway.” (more…)
Voters and Arlington County Board Democratic nominees Susan Cunningham and Maureen Coffey watch the tabulation process on Friday, June 23, 2023 in Courthouse (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
(Updated at 12:35 p.m.) Ranked-choice voting may have helped voters nominate a “split” Democratic ticket for Arlington County Board — at least when it comes to Missing Middle.
Last week, in relatively robust turnout for a primary in a non-presidential year, Maureen Coffey and Susan Cunningham received the Democratic nomination. Some 28,897 ballots were cast, up from 19,958 in 2015, the last time with two open seats and no incumbents on the ballot.
The Democratic duo are split, for and against, on the zoning code update allowing 2-6 unit buildings on lots previously zoned for single-family homes. Local elections buffs say the ideological diversity on this “split ticket” is a perk of ranked-choice voting that reflects the will of voters, even if it occasionally surprised observers.
“If we had used the simpler method of representation — of winner-takes-all — we most likely would have had two Democratic nominees who had the same position on Missing Middle,” says Jeremy Mayer, associate professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University.
The two departing Board members, Katie Cristol and Christian Dorsey, strongly supported the changes. This time around, voters have chosen Cunningham, who called it a “mess,” and Coffey who, while generally supportive, criticized it for lacking cohesion with other housing policies.
It appears this election may be a stronger referendum on Missing Middle than the 2022 race. Incumbent Matt de Ferranti ran unopposed in the Democratic primary and bested two independents with 60% of votes last fall, campaigning on a middling view of the zoning changes.
This time, the leaderboard was not clear cut. Despite “anti” Missing Middle candidates leading at first, realtor Natalie Roy lost to Coffey, who picked up votes from eliminated “pro” Missing Middle candidates.
This result “much more accurately reflects the opinions of Democrat-leaning Arlingtonians,” said Mayer, a lifelong Arlingtonian. “That’s a good thing for democracy.”
Ranked-choice voting tempered the influence of the Democratic establishment, he and former Arlington County Civic Federation President Allan Gajadhar said. Democrats had full control of the Arlington County Board for years until 2014, when Republican John Vihstadt joined the Board as an independent, and have had it since 2018, when de Ferranti beat him.
This year, the Democratic establishment coalesced around Julius “JD” Spain, Sr., who nabbed endorsements from County Board members Takis Karantonis and de Ferranti, Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, state Sen. Barbara Favola, and others. He was eliminated in the fourth tabulation round.
Cunningham, meanwhile, had support from some well-known Democrats as well as people outside the party, like Vihstadt, who last year supported independent and outspoken Missing Middle critic Audrey Clement. Cunningham also had the support of Board Vice-Chair Libby Garvey, who endorsed Vihstadt in 2014.
“In a place with a dominant faction, it does broaden the base of the people who can get elected beyond the party control mechanisms,” Gajadhar said. “In this case, it was one issue, Missing Middle. In other elections… [there could be] not just a diversity of ideas but of people who could conceivably run and be successful.”
Former county treasurer turned amateur election pundit Frank O’Leary sees a common thread between Garvey’s support for Cunningham amid doubts about Missing Middle and her alliance with Vihstadt against the Columbia Pike streetcar. He does not, however, predict the downfall of Missing Middle if Cunningham and Garvey join forces.
“I suspect it will be peace and harmony on the County Board,” he said.
People watch the results of the ranked-choice tabulation on Friday, June 23, 2023 in Courthouse (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
A whiteboard depicts the threshold for being the Democratic nominee for the Arlington County Board (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
A spreadsheet on display when votes for Arlington County Board were tabulated on Friday, June 23, 2023 (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Outside the room where tabulation happened at Arlington County headquarters in Courthouse on Friday, June 23 (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz, County Board member Takis Karantonis and others at county headquarters when tabulation took place Friday, June 23 (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Arlington County Director of Elections Gretchen Reinemeyer explains the tabulation process for ranked-choice voting (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Voting on Tuesday, June 20, 2023 in Arlington at Walter Reed Community Center (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Susan Cunningham on primary day (courtesy Susan Cunningham)
(Updated at 9:40 a.m. on 6/26/23) The ballots have all been counted and the results are finalized: Maureen Coffey and Susan Cunningham are the Democratic nominees for the Arlington County Board.
The results, released at 3:15 p.m. today (Saturday), culminated Arlington’s trial run of ranked-choice voting method. Eyes across the state were reportedly on Arlington, which the state legislature allowed to use the process for County Board elections one year before extending the right to the rest of the Commonwealth.
At noon today, Arlington election officials adjudicated the remaining 135 provisional ballots and began tabulating them around 1 p.m. These ballots were not expected to change the outcome of the tabulation yesterday (Friday), when officials processed ballots from early voting, primary day voting, and mail-in ballots.
On Tuesday’s primary day, no candidate in the six-way race crossed the threshold with only the first round of votes counted. Arlington waited until all the ballots were in, save provisional ballots, before eliminating lower vote-getters and tallying second- and third-place rankings.
Coffey, a researcher for the think tank American Progress, appears to have captured votes from many millennial renters like herself, receiving 10,786 votes.
Cunningham, who ran an unsuccessful bid for Arlington County Board as an independent in 2020, received 14,208 votes, initially carried by several precincts north of Langston Blvd.
Arlington County Board Democratic Primary Round 1 votes by precinct (by Jo DeVoe)
Coffey emerged victorious in the fourth round, after Jonathan Dromgoole, Tony Weaver and Julius “JD” Spain were eliminated, in that order. Cunningham crossed the victory threshold in round six, after Natalie Roy was eliminated.
How the ranking rounds played out for Arlington County Board (via Virginia Dept. of Elections)
Tabulation yesterday and today at county government headquarters was open to the public as was the certification of the results.
Both Coffey and Cunningham were both present on Friday. Coffey observed the vibe in the tabulation room was upbeat, complimenting Director of Elections Gretchen Reinemeyer for walking through every step, even though it seemed boring and technical.
“But as we waited for each step to happen, people were joking and laughing and being silly with it,” she said. “I think it’s reflective, Arlington County has some really good people.”
After the preliminary results were finalized on Friday, Coffey seemed stunned.
“This is so surreal,” she said. “This is wild.”
Cunningham was similarly upbeat.
“I am just excited at the prospect of serving our community next January,” Cunningham told ARLnow shortly after the tabulation. “I’m ready to take a true deep breath and I’m really proud of our candidates and the community for having a good and clean race.”
A man inserts a ballot into a voting machine at Walter Reed Community Center on Tuesday, June 20, 2023 (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Democratic primary watch party at William Jeffrey’s Tavern (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
An election official measures the distance that campaigners can stand near the Central Library polling place (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Voting on Tuesday, June 20, 2023 in Arlington at Walter Reed Community Center (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
County Board candidate JD Spain at the election watch party in Courthouse (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
When polls closed at Thomas Jefferson Community Center (courtesy Susan Cunningham)
Susan Cunningham on primary day (courtesy Susan Cunningham)
Candidate signs outside of the Madison Community Center (staff photo)
Arlingtonians could have an update on the results of the Arlington County Board Democratic primary as soon as this afternoon, according to the local elections office.
“We will be accepting about 500 mail and provisional ballots today and results will be uploaded throughout the afternoon,” says spokeswoman Tania Griffin. “We’ll also have an update regarding the [ranked-choice voting] tabulation later this afternoon as well.”
For the first time, Arlington voters used a ranked-choice system to pick their top candidates for the County Board, which has two open seats this year. The outcome will come down to who voters ranked second and third place.
It is a squeaker so far for Susan Cunningham, Natalie Roy, Maureen Coffey and Julius “J.D.” Spain, whose tally of first-choice votes are within a range of only 5 percentage points from most to least.
“This race is still wide open,” said Liz White, the executive director of UpVote Virginia, which has been educating residents about ranked-choice voting ahead of the primary.
“Four out of the six candidates could very well secure a win once subsequent rounds are tabulated,” she said in an email. “Round-by-round tabulation will occur as soon as all provisional and mail ballots are processed. Once all votes are processed, the tabulation is instantaneous.”
How Arlington County Board candidates ended Tuesday night with Round 1 votes in (via Virginia Dept. of Elections)
No candidate crossed the threshold for early victory: 33.3% of the first-choice votes, plus one vote. The next step will be eliminating the lowest vote getters, in order. Who people picked after first ranking Jonathan Dromgoole and Tony Weaver could get any of the four other candidates past the finish line.
Cunningham, who took the lead in the first round of votes, tells ARLnow she has made peace with whatever happens next. Coffey, who currently sits in third place, says she is “on pins and needles” waiting for the results.
Political consultant Ben Tribbett is placing his bets that those who ranked Dromgoole first likely ranked Coffey or Spain next.
“When you get to the actual ranking of candidates, I think the third and fourth-place candidates are going to go on to win the election,” Tribbett said. “I would expect in that first round, that Maureen is going to win. There’s a chance Susan Cunningham could hold off J.D. in the second round.”
On Tuesday, County Board member Takis Karantonis — who endorsed Coffey and Spain — said Coffey performed well on a per campaign dollar spent basis. Meanwhile Spain, who had racked up several endorsements and raised substantial funds, underperformed, which he called a “sobering result.”
Looking precinct by precinct, it is clear that each of the candidates had a base. The more urban places with younger voters went for Coffey, while single-family home enclaves went for Cunningham and Roy, who were most critical of the zoning changes known as Missing Middle.
Arlington County Board Democratic Primary Round 1 votes by precinct (by Jo DeVoe)
Spain told ARLnow on Tuesday night that he enjoyed strong support in his neighborhood, Penrose, while noting more confrontations with upset voters above Langston Blvd.
“We won the most diverse precincts in Arlington,” he said. “[I’m] proud of that.”
Tribbett was more blunt about what he saw as the electoral dynamic, citing the geographic distribution of votes in the Commonwealth’s Attorney race in particular.
“It’s the Karens versus the non-Karens,” he said. “Clearly, there’s a divide in the community that jumps out at you.”
Outside Rep. Don Beyer’s office (photo by Hallie LeTendre)
U.S. Capitol (photo by Hallie LeTendre)
While the results of the ranked-choice Arlington County Board election have yet to be determined, the voting method has a champion in Rep. Don Beyer.
Beyer tells ARLnow that voters are more likely to see someone they support reach the Board as a result of the voting method’s choice in the six-way Democratic primary for two open seats. He had another reason for supporting ranked-choice voting, too: it rewards candidates who build diverse coalitions, meaning candidates away from the partisan extremes are more likely to emerge triumphant.
“I’m a very strong supporter of ranked-choice voting as it maximizes the happiness and satisfaction of citizens,” said Beyer, who has represented Virginia’s 8th congressional district since 2015, during an interview yesterday (Wednesday) at his office on Capitol Hill.
For the first time, local voters went to the polls on Tuesday — and in early voting — and ranked their candidates in order of preference. Their votes count towards another candidate if their top pick is eliminated in what is known as “single transferable vote.”
Since the Virginia General Assembly gave Arlington permission to try it out before the rest of the state, election officials say lots of people are watching this race with interest. That includes Beyer, who observed that so far, the voting process seemed to be working.
“The early feedback this morning was that there were almost no bad ballots, meaning that almost everyone understood the ranked-choice voting method. It is not that hard, all you have to do is go through your choice one through three in terms of preference,” Beyer said.
There have been reports of confusion leading up to the primary, particularly about how votes are counted. An informal ARLnow poll found that some 20% of primary voters were confused either by the voting or tabulation process but most found it straightforward.
For Beyer, however, the benefits are clear.
“With ranked-choice voting, people are able to rank their top three choices, knowing that one of those three people is likely to win. As a voter, you have the chance to see someone who you most prefer to be elected. Without this, if your first choice does not win, you have no say beyond that one person,” Beyer said.
The congressman said at the national level, ranked-choice voting could have a moderating effect on the two political parties, which are pulling voters farther right or left as more extreme candidates emerge.
“In the Democratic primary, candidates appeal to the Democratic base which means they’re going to pull it farther and farther to the left. Republicans are going to pull farther and farther to the right,” Beyer said. “In Congress, there is no overlap. There is the missing moderate. We are so polarized, however, ranked choice voting allows for candidates who will serve everyone rather than one side to be elected.”
While ranked-choice voting could theoretically help results get calculated more quickly, jurisdictions voting this way, including Arlington, appear to instead be waiting longer to ensure all the ballots are in. That means results are not clear immediately after election night, though this expectation has also been eroded in conventional election by more people using mail-in and provisional ballots.
For Beyer, waiting is a secondary concern to what he says could be a healthier democracy.
“I’m excited about ranked-choice voting and believe that it will be good for our democracy which is the key thing,” he said. “It will also benefit our parties and make our voting system more responsive. I am always advocating for it.”
Today, the Arlington County Dept. of Elections said its staff began uploading votes. Calculating who is eliminated in the tabulation rounds and redistributing second-choice votes, however, may not begin until the weekend.
Meantime, Arlington County is asking voters for feedback on their ranked-choice experience.
Parisa Dehghani-Tafti at her election watch party in Courthouse (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Josh Katcher at his watch party in Westover, after conceding the race (staff photo)
County Board candidate JD Spain at the election watch party in Courthouse (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Arlington Sheriff candidate Jose Quiroz greets County Board member Takis Karantonis at the Walter Reed Community Center (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Voting on Tuesday, June 20, 2023 in Arlington at Walter Reed Community Center (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
A man inserts a ballot into a voting machine at Walter Reed Community Center on Tuesday, June 20, 2023 (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Voting underway at Swanson middle school in Westover (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Voting underway in Arlington (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Parisa Dehghani-Tafti at her election watch party in Courthouse (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
(Updated at 9:25 p.m.) Commonwealth’s Attorney incumbent Parisa Dehghani-Tafti has defeated challenger Josh Katcher in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.
Dehghani-Tafti has 56% of the vote to 44% for Katcher, her former deputy, in the heated race for the top prosecutor of Arlington and Falls Church. That’s as of 8:40 p.m., with all but a few hundred provisional and late-arriving mailed ballots counted in Arlington. Polls closed at 7 p.m.
Katcher, standing outside of his watch party at Lost Dog Cafe in Westover, called Dehghani-Tafti shortly before 8:50 p.m. to concede the race.
The contentious — and expensive — contest has been seen as something of a referendum on the incumbent’s brand of vocal justice reform advocacy. Katcher, while billing himself as also in favor of justice reform, put a spotlight on Dehghani-Tafti’s leadership, which he linked to departures of deputy prosecutors amid a reported rise in crime.
“Right now we’re going to celebrate what we were able to accomplish with this campaign and thank the volunteers,” Katcher told ARLnow before heading back into his event.
“Over the course of the last six months, we’ve had an important debate in our community over the future of criminal justice reform,” he said in a subsequent written statement. “Our team left it all on the field, as we sought to have a debate about what real reform and real justice could mean for our community… I stand ready to continue my commitment to this community, to its safety and to the goal of ensuring that we are balancing the need for both justice and compassion.”
Dehghani-Tafti also thanked her supporters. Gesturing to the crowd gathered at her event at Fire Works Pizza in Courthouse (held with County Board candidate JD Spain) she said those present reflect a tiny fraction of the people who donated, volunteered, “held my hand,” and knocked on doors.
“A campaign based on love, dignity and respect prevailed,” she said. “I’m grateful for the trust everybody has placed in me.”
In the other two closely watched local races, for County Board and Sheriff, leads were slim.
The three-way county sheriff race has Jose Quiroz with a widening lead compared to earlier in the night, with 40% to 34% for former deputy sheriff Wanda Younger and 27% for Arlington police corporal James Herring.
Quiroz was appointed Acting Sheriff after the departure of long-time Sheriff Beth Arthur earlier this year. The position is primarily responsible for running the county jail in Courthouse, with the Sheriff’s Office also handling court security, civil process serving, and some law and traffic enforcement responsibilities.
The Arlington County Board primary, meanwhile, is being conducted for the first time using ranked choice voting, which means final tabulation will not take place until Friday at the earliest. Results of “first choice” votes are being posted, however, showing Susan Cunningham with 25%, Natalie Roy with 24%, Maureen Coffey with 22%, and JD Spain with 20%.
Voting in Courthouse (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Just a few days remain to vote in the Arlington County Democratic primary.
Voters can cast their ballots early and in-person today (Friday) and tomorrow — or they can hit the polls on Tuesday.
This year, for the first time, residents are using ranked-choice voting to determine which Arlington County Board candidates will run with a (D) next to their names in the November general election. The format for every other primary contest is unchanged.
This article explains how to vote, how your vote is counted and why full results may come next weekend. At the minimum, this is what you should know:
Anyone registered to vote, regardless of party, can participate in the primary.
You can rank up to three of the six County Board candidates. You can only rank one or two if you want.
Only two candidates will get the nomination.
Only mark one oval per column and ask for assistance if you need help.
Filling out your ballot
Need a visual? This Arlington County flier provides step-by-step instructions:
Ranked-choice voting flier (via Arlington County)
The scanner will reject ballots that look as follows.
“Voters have the option to mark a new ballot or cast their ballot with the errors,” Arlington Dept. of Elections Director Gretchen Reinemeyer says. “A vast majority choose to spoil their original ballot and mark a new ballot.”
If you mailed in a ballot with errors, it will be reviewed.
“Their ballots are scanned after they are separated from the voter’s name to preserve voter privacy,” Reinemeyer says. “These ballots are held until election day and will be adjudicated by teams of election officers to determine voter intent.”
The rate of spoiled ballots so far this primary season is a little higher than normal, but still small, she noted. Final stats on spoiled ballots will be published after the election.
How are the winners picked?
Liz White, the executive director of UpVote Virginia, tells ARLnow she used this analogy to explain tabulation when her organization educated Arlingtonians on ranked-choice voting.
You have $1 to spend to elect someone. Everyone pays their first pick $1 and whoever gets the least amount of money is eliminated.
A candidate who wins by a large margin does not need the full $1 — just, for instance, 70 cents. Your second pick gets 30 cents.
If your first-place candidate is eliminated, your second-place pick gets your full $1. Everyone has a whole vote: for some, it is split among two and for others, it supports the second-place pick.
Armed with this knowledge, White says do not get too strategic.
“One of the nice things is that voters don’t have to be pundits,” she said. “They can truly say, ‘If I don’t have this one candidate, I want to have this one.'”
