Alexandrians will go to the polls Tuesday, June 8, to select the Democratic candidate for Congress in Virginia’s 8th District. Voting will begin at 6 a.m. and the polls will close at 7 p.m. There are two candidates on the ballot — the incumbent, Representative James P. Moran and Andrew M. Rosenberg.
The winner of this primary will face Republican Lisa Marie Cheney in the November general election.
May 10 was the deadline for registering to vote in this primary election. The deadline for absentee voting was June 3, by mail and June 5, for in-person absentee voting.
For example, those people who will not be in Alexandria on June 8, but who wish to vote in the primary, may go to the office of the voter registrar and cast their ballot. To accommodate these voters, the office will be open on Saturday, June 5, from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. The office is located at 132 N. Royal Street.
There have been some precinct polling location changes. George Washington Middle School is once again being used. The polling place that was at Minnie Howard School is now at Chinquapin Park Recreation Center. The polling location at Patrick Henry has now been changed to St. Martin de Porres Senior Center. The registrant’s office mailed notices of these changes to the affected voters.
As for Tuesday's primary turnout, city officials didn't really know.
“That’s really hard to say,” said Tom Parkins, the registrar of voters. “We haven’t had a Democratic primary for the 8th District Congressional seat for some time so we really have nothing to compare to this election. We have received about 225 absentee votes.”
The new voting machines will be used for the second time, having been first seen in the February presidential primary. “We have done a lot of voter education and demonstrations with these machines and most people seem to really like them and find them easy to use,” Parkins said. “They are fully accessible and allow independent voting for many persons with disabilities.”
Anyone with questions about voting should call the registrar’s office at 703-838-4050 or visit the web site at alexandriavoter.org.