Fairfax City Sees Expectedly Low Turnout for Primary

Without a gubernatorial contest in Tuesday’s Democratic Primary Election, voter turnout in Fairfax City precincts has been quite low.

As of 11:35 a.m., only 24 voters, or one percent of registered voters, had cast ballots at Fairfax Presbyterian Church, the poll location for the city’s first precinct.

Turnout wasn’t much better at Sherwood Community Center, polling place for the city’s second precinct, where 35 people had voted by 11 a.m.

But that’s even better than officials had even anticipated.

“We were estimating 50 for the day, so it might be a little over 50, maybe 60,” said Bob Pritz, an election official at the precinct.

Tuesday's primary will decide the Democratic candidates for lieutenant governor and attorney general. State Sen. Ralph Northam (D-Norfolk) will face off for lieutenant governor against Aneesh Chopra, the first U.S. chief technology officer under President Barack Obama. Former federal prosecutor Justin Fairfax is facing State Sen. Mark Herring (D-Loudoun) for the attorney general nomination.

Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat from McLean, was the only person to file paperwork for governor.

The last time Virginia had a June primary with only lieutenant governor and attorney general on the ballot—similar to this year — was in 2001. That year, fewer than 165,000 people voted in Virginia, a voter turnout of approximately 4.2 percent, according to the Virginia State Board of Elections.

Fairfax isn’t an anomaly – turnout has been low across the region.

Only about 50 voters had been through the Herndon Community Center as of 10 a.m., said Cesar del Aguila, chairman of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee, who was on hand to answer questions and assist voters.

“But, in my experience, Democrats tend to vote later in the day, so I expect to see a big uptick after the 5 p.m. hour," he said.

The story was no different in Annandale or Vienna.

with one going as far as to say a 10 percent turnout would be "a miracle" — at Madison, only about 50 of the more than 3,000 registered voters at the school's two precincts had cast their ballots by lunchtime.

And only nine people voted by mid-morning at the precinct at Green Spring Gardens Park in Annandale.

In 2009, R. Creigh Deeds, Terry McAuliffe and Brian Moran were running for governor in the Democratic primary. Jody Wagner and and A. Michael Signer were running for lieutenant governor, and there were several down-ballot primaries for both Democrats and Republicans.

Voter turnout for the Democrat's primary was lower than 6.5 percent statewide in 2009

Richard Fitzgerald, an election officer at Fairfax Presbyterian Church, said about 100 people had voted in the 2009 democratic primary. But since there were gubernatorial candidates, more voters came out.

“It was a bit more contested,” he said.

Still, with a 20-20 tie in the Virginia State Senate, whoever is chosen as lieutenant governor in 2013 "takes on a special role in breaking some ties, so the new Lieutenant Governor will be a key player in Virginia's future," said Dak Hardwick, chair of the Alexandria Democratic Committee.

The polls will be open until 7 p.m. Look up your polling place by address here.