Fort Hunt Area Voters Turn Out Today for Election

Under clear skies and a chilly 38 degrees, volunteers and candidates stood outside precincts Tuesday morning in Fort Hunt and surrounding areas in Northern Virginia to shake hands, hand out campaign literature and sample ballots and get in one last plug as local residents turned out to vote.

Turnout for Tuesday's election is expected to be about 30 percent, about the same as 2007, the last time a similar election was held, according to a Washington Post article. Today's election includes races for county supervisors and school board seats, as well as statehouse races.

"I'll be surprised if we break 30 percent countywide," Cameron Quinn, in charge of elections, told Patch Tuesday morning. The county, as of Nov. 1, had 640,689 "active" voter registrations. That figure would be just a little lower than four years ago, she said. Quinn said she is seeing higher voter turnout in areas where the races are tight, and not as high turnout where races are uncontested. She said the Clifton area is seeing a high turnout, most likely due to the Clifton School controversy.

At Precinct #611, in Fort Hunt, 44th District Del. (D) greeted voters before 7 a.m. as they walked up the sidewalk. Surovell, the incumbent, faces Republican and Independent candidate . Barsa was expected at Stratford later Tuesday morning with former first lady of Virginia . Allen's husband is running for his old job in the U.S. Senate and will be on the ballot next year.

A few feet away from Surovell, , a Republican running to represent the Mount Vernon District on the Fairfax County School Board, talked with fellow Republicans and chatted with voters. Nellenbach championed full-day kindergarten as a parent and PTA president and is up against incumbent Democrat . 

Amy Frederick, wife of former Del. , introduced herself and talked to voters as well Tuesday morning, asking them to vote for her husband. Jeff Frederick, a Republican, is running for the 36th District state Senate seat, hoping to win today's election against incumbent , a Democrat.

Not everyone was at Stratford Landing asking for votes. One of the school's 6th-graders, Cooper, was doing a brisk business selling muffins, pumpkin bread, Krispy Kreme donuts, fruit and refreshments at a stand on the sidewalk outside the school. He and his mother Courtney were holding a fundraiser for a class trip to Williamsburg. County schools are closed today.

Over at Precinct #606 in Fort Hunt, the , home to one of the county's split precincts (30th and 36th Senate districts) a group of local Republicans and Democrats took friendly jabs at each other in-between periods of handing out their literature to early-morning voters and sipping coffee to keep warm.

Precincts will remain open until 7 p.m. Patch will offer live election coverage on its sites tonight.