All Eyes on Alexandria Mayor's Race Tuesday

PHOTOS: Vice Mayor Allison Silberberg, winner of the June 9 Democratic primary, faces four-term incumbent Mayor Bill Euille, a write-in candidate, in Tuesday’s election in Alexandria. Official candidate photos

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On Election Day Tuesday, all eyes will be on Alexandria, where Vice Mayor Allison Silberberg, who won the Democratic primary in June in a three-way race, is fighting off a challenge from Mayor Bill Euille, a four-term incumbent who launched a write-in campaign.

That three-way primary in June included former Mayor Kerry Donley, who later threw his support behind Euille.

In the money race for mayor, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, Euille raised about $211,206, with $31,877 left by Oct. 22; from Oct. 28-30, Euille raised another $14,000.

Silberberg raised $148,978, with $34,424 left by Oct. 22; Silberberg’s last-minute contributions, from Oct. 26-29, show she received $2,800.

More than 2,800 absentee votes cast

Alexandria has seen an increase in absentee voting in this election, with 1,881 people casting absentee votes in person and 1,000 casting absentee votes by mail, Alexandria Registrar Anna Leider said Monday morning. She noted that in 2011, about 1,400 absentee votes were cast, but said that the practice is generally becoming more popular.

Leider said she expects turnout in the Alexandria election to be between 10 to 30 percent, depending on the precinct.

Voters: Bringing a sample ballot with you is OK

“Voters need to know who they are voting for when they go into the voting booth,” said Leider. “It’s OK to bring a sample ballot with you.”

With Euille banking on voters writing in his name, what if someone doesn’t have a pen handy or what if a pen runs out of ink?

“We have plenty of pens for voters to use in the voting booths,” Leider noted.

Mark the box

Important for all voters: Make a mark of some kind in the box next to the name of the person you’re voting for, or in the case of a write-in, mark the box (with a dot, an “x,” a checkmark) in addition to writing in the name, Leider said.

If a ballot comes in without the box being marked in some way, those ballots will likely be set aside and possibly only be counted in a recount or contest situation, she said. It would be up to the candidate to decide whether they want to challenge the results.

Also read: Five Things You Need to Know: Election Day Checklist for Alexandria Voters

Doing the math on Election Night

On Election Night, voters following the Alexandria mayor’s race, looking at results online, will not see votes for Euille’s name; instead they will see the number of write-in votes cast for Mayor.

Election officials will begin an open canvass (meaning anyone can watch the proceedings) of the election results Wednesday morning and will likely take two days before they report their findings, Leider said.

A canvass of the votes should be completed by Thursday evening or Friday morning. “We’ve never done this before,” Leider noted. The Electoral Board does its canvass after every election. They’ve never done a canvass with an active write-in campaign.

When there is a write-in candidate in a Virginia election, if a candidate wins with not more than 5 percent of the votes cast, the other candidate can ask for a recount, Leider said.

Standards for recounts

In Virginia, the loser can ask for a recount if the margin is less than 1 percent of the total number of votes cast. But in the case of write-ins, the percentage is expanded to 5 percent, Leider said. (See more about that Virginia election law here.)

During a recount, that is when officials would examine any ballots that were set aside at the precinct and not counted, Leider said.

For example, if someone wrote in a name, but did not “x” or check off the box next to it? Leider said that recount officials would look at those ballots and have to agree on the intent of the voter.

If the results of a recount didn’t satisfy all parties, the election can be contested.