Early in-person voting began in Virginia on September 18. According to the Virginia Public Access Project, more than 1.4 million Virginians have already cast their vote or requested a mail ballot. Still, there are plenty of us who haven’t voted yet. If you’re unsure what you’ll see when you stop by the registrar’s office or open that letter from the city, take a look at the sample ballot on the right for a refresher.
Though the end of the election period is fast approaching, it’s not too late to get on board. The deadline to register to vote is October 13. Vote-by-mail ballots can be requested until October 23 and must be postmarked by November 3. In-person early voting ends on October 31, the Friday before the Tuesday, November 3, general election. If you’ve been putting it off and you’re looking for a sign—this is it.
Senate
Democrat Mark Warner is running for his third term in the Senate. His Republican challenger is Daniel Gade, an Army veteran who lost a leg in Iraq before working on veterans’ issues in the Bush administration. In 2014, Warner staved off a tough challenge from Republican Ed Gillespie, winning reelection by 0.8 percent. This time around, he’s expected to win more comfortably—polling consistently shows Warner ahead by double digits, and he’s raised $13.9 million to Gade’s $900,000.
Congress
UVA’s director of health policy and equity, Dr. Cameron Webb has been running a strong race in the sprawling 5th Congressional District, which voted for Donald Trump by 11 points. Republican Bob Good is a self-styled “biblical conservative” and a former Liberty University athletics fundraiser—though he himself has fundraised poorly, and may in fact have broken campaign finance laws last month by holding a raffle for an AR-15 rifle at a campaign event.
Amendment 1
Take a look at “Party Lines” for a deep dive into this year’s important gerrymandering amendment.
Amendment 2
The second amendment on the ballot this year would give disabled veterans a tax break on one car or pickup truck owned by the veteran or their spouse. The amendment was introduced in 2019 by Democratic Delegate Eileen Filler-Corn, and passed by the Virginia state legislature with near-unanimous bipartisan support.
President
If you’re still undecided on this one, that’s on you, my friend.