Prince William County General Registrar told PLN the new ballot drops would correct the issue with incorrectly-sized ballots that slowed voting when polls opened at 6 a.m.
At some polls, elections chiefs were instructed to fold ballots and place them into an envelope because they were too wide to be inserted into a scanner. Those ballots amounted to only a handful” and will be counted when polls close at 7 p.m., said General Registrar Eric Olsen.
Olsen said voter turnout is higher than normal for this election, with three percent of the electorate turning out to vote during the early voting period that ended Saturday, February 18, 2023.
Olsen said that two polling places had seen more than 100 voters, while others have been slow.
Voter turnout is expected to be less than 10% of the registered voters in the district, which is common for Special Elections like these, said Olsen.
Original post 8 a.m. — Elections officials in Prince William County are scrambling to fix ballot problems in today’s Special Election.
OrVoters who turned out today for a Special Election in the Gainesville District to replace the former county supervisor who resigned last year couldn’t insert their ballots into scanning machines.
The paper ballots at all 14 polling precincts in the Gainesville District were about a sixteenth of an inch too wide to fit into the scanners. That prompted some precincts to require voters to fold their ballots and insert them into an envelope for counting at the end of today, Election Day.
Meanwhile, the poll chiefs are no longer using the too-wide-to-insert ballots, which were printed in mass quantities, and instead are printing ballots on-site and handing them to voters when they arrive at the polling place.
That process will be in place until the county’s elections office can print and deliver new ballots, sometime before 10 a.m., Prince William County General Registrar Eric Olsen.
“This is unacceptable,” said Carol Czarkowski, with the Prince William County GOP.
Today’s ballot problems are reminiscent of similar problems during the 2020 Presidential Election when two ballot scanners at Battlefield High School were not working properly, said Czarkowski.
Olsen said the ballots were tested and that his staff found no issues. Ballots used during early voting, January 17 to February 18, were printed on-site and given to voters when they arrived at the polls.
Olsen told PLN he would investigate what led to the improper size ballots and take up the issue with the printer.
Today, voters are choosing between Democrat Kerensa Sumers or Republican Bob Weir to replace Peter Candland, a Republican who served 1o year on the Board of County Supervisors before resigning in December.
As we told you yesterday, the Special Election is a referendum on developing more data centers in Prince William County — large server farms that power the internet — and continued development of the county’s remaining rural lands.
Sumers supports more development, while Weir promises to oppose growth near Bull Run Mountain. Polls opened at 6 a.m. and will close at 7 p.m.
Click here to find out where to vote.
A Special Election will decide who will serve the remainder of Peter Candland’s term on the Board of County Supervisors ending on December 31, 2023. Democrat Kerensa Sumers and Republican Bob Weir are vying to replace Candland, who resigned in December 2022 after ten years serving on the board.
You can find out where to vote here. Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.
Saturday, February 18, was the last day to vote early.
The election is widely seen as a referendum on developing Prince William County’s last rural areas and growing the county’s commercial tax base.
Sumers, largely funded by labor unions and the Democratic Party of Virginia, aims to open up the Haymarket and Gainesville areas to the continued development of data centers — large server farms that power the internet – becoming more prevalent throughout the county.
Sumers said the development would create more tax revenue for the county and bring “equity” between the Sudley Road corridor near Manassas and the area, which has been slower to develop.
In contrast, Weir is funded largely by small donations from residents who live in the district. He promises to be a brick wall when it comes to bringing more data centers to the county, which require large amounts of electricity (which may now be scarce in summer months, according to the state’s Department of Environmental Quality), use large amounts of water to cool the servers, and produce noise imitating from cooling fans on rooftops.
Both candidates met at Battlefield High School near Haymarket on February 9 for a forum, which morphed into a debate. PLN was there, and members may read our coverage.
Publisher’s note: Thank you to our paid members who allow us to keep producing the community journalism you’ve come to expect.
After tomorrow’s Special Election, the political attention in the county will shift to all Board of County Supervisors members who are up for re-election in 2023. Multiple supervisors, including Chair At-large Ann Wheeler, have Primary Election opponents from their respective political parties vying to unseat them.
In December, PLN gave you an exclusive interview with Candland to reflect on his time in office. Candland agreed to join his neighbors, offering to sell their homes to data center developers who are now vying to build server farms on 800 acres next to Manassas National Battlefield Park as part of the Prince William Digital Gateway Development.
Candland recused himself from all data center votes, including November 2, 2022, vote in which a politically divided board approved the Digital Gateway project.
The driver who was behind the wheel during a February 6 crash involving a train at a crossing in Haymarket faces a reckless driving charge.
On February 15, after consultation with the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office, investigators with the Crash Investigation Unit charged the driver of the 2004 Chevrolet Silverado involved in the fatal crash that occurred in the area of Kapp Valley Way and Route 15 in Haymarket.
Emerson Lisandro Martinez Mejia, 26, of Manassas, was extricated from the wreckage, and died at a hospital after the crash.
The crash occurred February 6 at 6:31 p.m. Police said the driver was traveling northbound on Kapp Valley Way and disregarded a stop sign prior to the railroad crossing and proceeded to cross over the tracks where it was then struck by a passing cargo train.
The impact of the collision caused the truck to leave the roadway only to land upright several hundred feet from the railroad crossing in an easement of the railroad tracks.
Data from the Virginia Public Access Project (Elections: Prince William County Prince William County Supervisor – Gainesville (vpap.org) shows Democrat Kerensa Sumers raised $46,583, while Republican Bob Weir raised $20,005.
Sumers largest donors ($1,000 or more) included:
• Donations from Service Employees International Union – Local 512 to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org) (In-kind donation: digital advertisement)
• Donations from ActBlue Virginia to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org)
• Donations from Coalition for a Brighter PWC to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org) (address is Catharpin, VA)
• Donations from Democratic Party – Prince William County to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org)
• Donations from Mulhausen, Jeff to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org)
• Donations from Muslim Outreach and Volunteer Enterprise to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org) (In-kind donation: canvassing support)
• Donations from Sumers, Kerensa to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org) (loans)
• Donations from Stanley Martin Companies Inc to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org)
• Donations from Nova Building Industry Assn to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org)
• Donations from Kissler, Timothy L to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org) (In-kind donation: catering)
• Donations from Angry, Victor to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org)
• Donations from Boddye for Prince William County Board of Supervisors – Ken to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org)
• Donations from Compton, Bettie to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org)
Weir’s largest donors ($1,000 or more) included:
• Donations from Lawson for Prince William County Board of Supervisors – Jeanine to Bob B Weir (vpap.org) ($1,000 cash + $1,000 in-kind donation for a campaign fundraiser)
• Donations from Weir, Bobert Burton to Bob B Weir (vpap.org) (loans)
• Donations from Kulick, Kathryn to Bob B Weir (vpap.org)
• Donations from Price, James M to Bob B Weir (vpap.org)
• Donations from Vega for Prince William County Board of Supervisors – Yesli to Bob B Weir (vpap.org)
• Donations from Ward, Elizabeth H to Bob B Weir (vpap.org)
Notable among Sumers’ donors is virtually every homeowner in the Catharpin Valley Estates neighborhood. This was the neighborhood that attempted to join the Prince William Digital Gateway CPA once they believed its passage was inevitable.
It would be interesting to learn who the contributors to “Coalition for a Brighter PWC” (The Virginia Public Access Project (vpap.org)) are. Since it has a Catharpin, VA address, could this be residents of the Sanders Lane area who want to put together a data center assemblage?
Just a guess. Draw your own conclusions.
Bill Wright
Gainesville
PLN accepts letters to the editor on issues of local importance. Submit your letters to [email protected].
This Sunday is the last to vote early in the Special Election for Gainesville District Supervisor on the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.
The last day to vote early is Saturday, February 18, 2023. Click here for more info on where to vote.
Democrat Kerensa Sumers and Republican Bob Weir took the stage for a candidate forum near Haymarket. Read our full report.
Sumesr and Weir drew stark contrasts between themselves regarding commercial development and data centers, with Sumers calling for more widespread development and Weir calling to curb development and scrapping a plan to add 30,000 more homes to western Prince William County.
Both agreed the county could do more to fund parks.
The PWC Office of Elections will be open this Sat. 2/11 & Sun. 2/12 from 8:30 am-5:00 pm for Early Voting for the Gainesville Special Election. *PLEASE NOTE!* Sunday 2/12 is the ONLY Sunday Voting Day for this Special Election. Come vote before the big game!
— Prince William County Office of Elections (@PWCVotes) February 10, 2023
From Prince William police:
Fatal Crash Investigation – On February 6 at 6:31PM, investigators with the Crash Investigation Unit responded to the area of Kapp Valley Way and James Madison Hwy. in Haymarket (20169) to investigate a single vehicle crash involving a train.
The investigation revealed the driver of a 2004 Chevrolet Silverado was traveling northbound on Kapp Valley Way when the driver disregarded a posted stop sign prior to the railroad crossing and proceeded to cross over the tracks where it was then struck by a passing cargo train.
The impact of the collision caused the truck to temporarily leave the roadway and land upright several hundred feet from the railroad crossing in an easement of the railroad tracks.
Fire and rescue personnel responded and pronounced a passenger inside the truck dead at the scene. The driver of the truck was extricated from the truck and flown to an area hospital where his injuries were determined to be non-life threatening.
No other injuries were reported. The investigation continues.
Identified:The deceased passenger in the Chevrolet Silverado was identified as Emerson Lisandro MARTINEZ MEJIA, 26, of Manassas
The driver of the Chevrolet Silverado was identified as a 42-year-old man of Manassas Park
An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported two deaths.
Updated -- Delegate Danica Roem (D) has filed a bill allowing the General Assembly to change the town's Election Day, moving it from spring to fall.
Starting last fall, voters began electing its mayor and town council members on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
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Republicans selected Bob Weir as their candidate for a Special Election in Prince William County’s Gainesville District.
Weir will face Democrat Kerensa Sumers in a February 21 match-up, where voters will decide who will serve the remainder of former Gainesville District Supervisor Peter Candland’s term that ends December 31, 2023.
Candland resigned a month following the approval of the Prince William Digital Gateway, a tract of land larger than 800 acres next to the Manassas National Battlefield Park, now cleared for data center development.
Candland owns a home on the land and stands to make millions by selling his property to data center developers. Candland had abstained from making land-use votes on the Digital Gateway the year leading up to the project’s approval and subsequent resignation.
The GOP selected Weir at a mass meeting at Park Valley Church near Haymarket today, Monday, January 2, 2023. He won more than 50% of the vote in the first round, beating former county school board member Alyson Satterwhite and Ray Mizener, who chairs the Prince William Committee of 100.
The nominating process began at 7 p.m. with speeches by the candidates. The GOP required participants to pledge allegiance to the party and renounce any prior political party affiliations before they were allowed to cast a ballot. The GOP declared Weir, the winner at 9 p.m.
A total of 372 people registered to vote at the mass meeting to decide the nomination. The voting was done by secret ballot.
Weir could not be reached for comment on this story.
Several Democrats, like Bill Wright and Marilyn Karp, outspoken opponents of the Prince William Digital Gateway, attended the meeting. According to Karp, she cast a ballot for Weir. They campaigned for Weir, who joined them last year in opposing the massive data center project next to the site of one of the first major battles of the Civil War.
Wright, who Prince William County Democrats ousted from their organization last year after he called for Board of County Supervisors Chair Ann Wheeler’s resignation, says he plans to oppose his party’s nominee in a larger effort to oppose the majority of Democrats who sit on the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.
“Kerensa Sumers sounds like a decent person, I’ve read her position statements, but as long as Ann Wheeler is in charge of the Board of County Supervisors, I’m not going put another vote in her bucket,” said Wright.
Wright and others who opposed the Digital Gateway and a host of data center projects on coming to the area say Supervisors are more concerned about trading the county’s remaining rural landscape for data centers, felling trees, and paving over surfaces which will lead to more stormwater runoff and sediment in area reservoirs.
Voters chose Wheeler and four other Democrats to sit on the board in 2019. When they took office in January 2020, the Board of Supervisors flipped from Republican control for the first time this century.
The two remaining Republicans on the board, Yesli Vega and Jeanine Lawson, also spoke during Monday’s mass meeting.
Weir sits on the Haymarket Town Council, where he’s served off and on again since 2004. Voters most recently re-elected him to the town council in November 2022.
Satterwhite has declared her candidacy for the Gainesville District Supervisors seat for the November 2023 General Election but also tossed her name into the ring for the February Special Election after Candland’s resignation.
Satterwhite spent eight years on the county School Board representing the Gainesville District. She ran against Dr. Babur Lateef twice for the School Board Chairman At-large seat and lost during a Special Election in 2018 and the General Election in 2019.
Correction: Marilyn Karp, a self-proclaimed Democrat, cast a ballot for Weir during a mass meeting on Monday, January 2, 2023.
One man is dead after falling through the ice near Haymarket.
Fire and rescue crews were called to a golf course at the intersection of Erin Blair Loop and Piedmont Vista Drive in the Piedmont subdivision after three people walked out onto a pond measuring 200 feet long by 70 feet wide.
The call went out at 10 p.m. for a possible drowning and was upgraded to people in the water. Crews pulled one person from the ice and water 2o minutes after arriving on the scene.
About 10 minutes later, they found and pulled a second victim from the water. Fire crews did not identify any of the victims. All were taken to a local hospital by ambulance.
A police helicopter from Fairfax County called to airlift a victim to a hospital was called off.
According to initial reports, rescue crews found broken ice in the area where the victims were found. Rescue crews spotted a pair of shoes that had belonged to the victim on the ice.
Temperatures plummeted in the hours leading up to the water rescue. A passing cold front caused temperatures to fall from the 50s during the day to 14 degrees by the evening., with a wind chill factor making it feel like sub-zero conditions.
“The recent cold snap may have many people thinking about exploring the ice on area ponds and other bodies of water,” a Prince William County fire and rescue press release states. “Our local ice is dangerous at any time. The Prince William County Fire and Rescue System urges everyone to stay off the ice. Small children and pets should always be supervised near any body of water.”
