PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY — The proposed Prince William County budget would significantly increase spending for the Office of Elections by nearly $800,000, targeting issues that led to voter complaints in 2018 just in time for the 2020 presidential primary.
County Executive Christopher Martino presented his budget proposal for fiscal year 2020 to the Board of County Supervisors, telling board members the increased funding includes about $300,000 for the March 2020 presidential primary plus another $400,000 for Election Day equipment.
Problems during the Nov. 6, 2018, mid-term election led Prince William to experience the second highest rate of voter complaints in the state. Those issues generally stemmed from inadequate staffing and equipment at polling places, and the budget proposal would address those issues. As the county’s population continues to grow, so do the number of voters — and the need for more staff and equipment to conduct elections.
“It’s a significant investment in the community and our democratic process,” said Dave Sinclair, director the county’s Office of Management and Budget.
Money Targets Critical Needs
The county currently spends $2.64 million for the Office of Elections, which amounts to 3.14 percent of its general expenditures. That money pays for voter registration, conducting elections and maintaining voter records as wells as staff salaries and training.
In the budget proposal, two election-related items are listed as “must do” items with the greatest sense of urgency — adding electronic poll books and preparing for the 2020 presidential primary. Two other items were listed as “critical needs” — adding an assistant registrar and purchasing optical scan readers.
The proposed budget would raise spending by $778,475 from the fiscal year 2019 level of $1.86 million to $2.63 million. That 42 percent increase is one of the largest for any agency in this budget cycle, Sinclair said.
It would address three specific areas:
- Presidential Primary. The additional $300,000 in funding would cover the cost of conducting the election, set for “Super Tuesday,” March 3, 2020. That includes voting machine programming and testing, paper ballot printing, staffing, supplies, and Election Officer compensation. The cost would be split, with $135,000 from county revenue and $165,000 from state revenue.
- Additional Staffing. It would add one fulltime position to the current staff of 14, an assistant registrar at a cost of $56,771, to help with updating voter registration information.
- Election Day Equipment. The budget includes funding for essential equipment needed to conduct and certify elections, including:
- The “must do” purchase of electronic poll books for $114,371, which is a recurring yearly expense. The equipment is mandated by the state and vendors are approved by the state, but the cost is borne by each local jurisdiction.
- The “critical need” for 46 additional ballot scanners for $288,734. The one-time expenditure would mean 51 of the county’s 94 precincts would have two scanners available.
Reduce Election Day Lines
These items would address the issue that led to Prince William tallying the second highest number of voter complaints — 69 — in the state following the November 2018 election. About half of those complaints — 49 percent — stemmed from long lines at polling places, while another 23 percent involved voting equipment.
A report by the State Board of Elections found that “Prince William County’s staffing at polling places seems to be outside the norm.” The county used fewer election officers than other localities with a similar number of registered voters. “Inadequate staffing at polling locations can, and in November 2018, did contribute to long lines,” the report concluded.
In addition, the Board of Elections report noted that an insufficient number of voting machines and electronic poll books also can lead to complaints about equipment and long lines. In November, that created a domino effect, leaving voters waiting first to check in to vote, then to scan their ballots after they’d voted.
“Having only one voting machine/scanner in each polling location (as Prince William County did) combined with a high voter turnout created a situation where voters were waiting to cast their ballots after having marked them,” the Board of Elections report said. “The wait at the scanner resulted in a wait at voter check-in, thus resulting in long lines.”
The new Election Day equipment would help alleviate those long lines, Sinclair said. “This would help eliminate a choke point,” he said, when voters wait to feed their ballots into the scanner.
Increased Voter Registration Reflects Population Growth
Meanwhile, the county has taken other steps to address these problems by adding two new voting precincts by splitting the two largest precincts in the county. State law requires polling places to serve no fewer than 500 and no more than 5,000 registered voters. The two split precincts are:
- Bristow Run in the Brentsville Magisterial District, which had 4,879 registered voters.
- Potomac Precinct in the Potomac Magisterial District, which had 4,785 registered voters.
A September 2018 internal audit of the Office of Elections showed Prince William’s average number of voters per precinct falls in the middle of neighboring jurisdictions at 3,061 voters. Ten precincts currently serve more 3,900 voters — including the two that already have been split — but because of redistricting issues, no additional precincts can be added before the 2020 elections.
That same audit found Prince William has experienced a marked increase in voter registrations, in large part due to the 15 percent increase in population over the past 10 years, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Among neighboring jurisdictions, Prince William registered the highest number of voters — 2,550 — from April to June 2018.
The new assistant registrar would help with the increased workload stemming from the growing population. The budget proposal indicates there has been a 10 percent increase in registered voters since fiscal year 2014, the last time new elections staff was added, as well as a 454 percent increase in absentee votes cast.
“This position is to help meet those workload increases,” Sinclair said. In addition, the five-year budget proposal calls for adding one additional staff member in each fiscal year 2021 and 2022 — one of whom would be on staff before the 2020 presidential election.
Martino released the budget proposal Feb. 19 in a presentation to the Board of County Supervisors.
County officials will hold a series of public workshops on the 2020 budget, culminating with a recap and public hearing April 9. The board is expected to approve a final version of the budget later in April, and it will take effect on July 1.
PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY -- The longtime head of the Flory Small Business Center is retiring Dec. 31, leaving Prince William County residents without small business development services for the first time in nearly 30 years.
Linda Decker, the center’s CEO and president, is stepping down after deep disagreements with Prince William County officials about the future of the small business center she has headed since it opened in 1991.
The Flory Center is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization that is not part of the county government structure, although it has historically worked closely with economic development officials. The center has a regional focus and serves clients in Manassas and Manassas Park as well as Prince William County.
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MANASSAS PARK -- The somber message from everyone involved with the drug epidemic resonated clearly: Opioid addiction continues to be a growing problem in the Prince William County area that cuts across all demographic distinctions, costing lives and wreaking havoc in its wake.
More than 80 people gathered Nov. 17 at the Manassas Park Community Center to assess the scope of the current opioid crisis as well as ways to combat it. They heard from law enforcement officers, health care professionals, elected officials and people whose lives have been devastated by opioid drugs.
All agreed: The crisis is increasing, it will take a concerted effort to stop it, and people need to learn the signs of drug abuse so they can intercede when it happens.
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Northern Virginia elections officials are seeing a significant increase in the number of voters casting absentee ballots, a trend they expect to continue as the Nov. 6 midterm election draws closer.
Officials in Prince William and Stafford counties, along with Manassas city, will have extended hours for absentee voting in the final two weeks before next month’s local and federal election.
With less than two weeks until Election Day, deadlines are quickly approaching. In all Virginia jurisdictions:
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MANASSAS -- Four 1,200-horsepower radial engines slowly revved up, spewing clouds of gray smoke when the propellers began to rotate, as the massive B-17 bomber prepared for takeoff Thursday at the Manassas Regional Airport.
The whooshing of those nearly 12-foot propellers grew into the unmistakable roar of a World War II airplane. That sound meant the Aluminum Overcast was ready to soar.
One of only about a dozen B-17s still flying, the Aluminum Overcast will be at the Manassas airport through Sunday, Oct. 21, offering the chance to fly or tour one of the iconic “flying fortresses” that symbolized the U.S. and Allied war effort, helping to turn the tide of battle in World War II.
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Kaiser Permanente is continuing its regional expansion efforts with plans to open two new state-of-the-art medical office buildings in Stafford and Prince William counties.
But the future of a potential $200 million “hub” in Woodbridge appears to be uncertain. Company officials could not confirm the status of the proposed 335,000-square-foot Kaiser South Northern Virginia hub campus on Minnieville Road, east of Caton Hill Road.
“We can’t provide any additional information on that item at this point,” Kaiser spokesman Scott Lusk said in an email about the Woodbridge facility.
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The tech start-up must locate its headquarters in the county or repay $100,000 from funding that’s helped other local companies
PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY -- Prince William County officials recently gave education software company Scriyb, LLC, an additional 15 months to relocate its headquarters within the county or face the prospect of repaying its $100,000 economic development grant.
Scriyb is one of at least five companies that have received $400,000 in county funds since 2016 aimed at generating economic development, but it’s the only one facing the prospect of repaying its grant. The company so far has been unable to find a suitable location for its operations.
As part of its grant, Scriyb also received matching funds from the state’s Center for Innovative Technology GAP Funds. The tech start-up, founded in 2015, is headed by Chief Executive Officer Christopher Etesse, who previously worked with several other educational technology companies.
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PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY -- If you’re looking for a job in the computer industry, you’re in the right area.
Although this region has the nation’s third-largest digital technology workforce, there are currently 43,200 vacant tech jobs waiting for workers in the DMV — the metropolitan area that includes the District of Columbia, parts of Maryland and all of Northern Virginia.
And two-thirds of those job openings are here in Northern Virginia.
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MANASSAS -- Workers who’ve been on strike for three weeks against Didlake Inc., including several with disabilities, took their grievances to the company’s Manassas headquarters Thursday morning with the support of local elected officials.
The workers voted in April to form a union, culminating a yearlong effort aimed at improving their pay and health-care benefits. But Didlake has refused to recognize those efforts while awaiting a ruling from the National Labor Relations Board, stemming from the company’s appeal of a decision that favored the workers.
The workers walked off their jobs May 25 at the Army National Guard Readiness Center in Arlington, where they clean the buildings under a federal contract. The workers previously protested outside the facility.
