Remember, kids—today’s the Charlottesville election. You’ll be voting for three School Board members and two City Council members. The polls are open until 7pm, so get on it.
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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Waldo you know that it is not necessary to vote for 2 city council members and 3 school board members. I only voted for one of each and I am sure that many other voters will choose to vote for only one city council candidate. I also think that many people won’t vote at all in the school board election because they know so little about any of the candidates.
Yes, yes, and some people won’t be voting at all, because they’re ex-felons or under 18 or lazy or whatever. Some people may vote for nobody for Council and two for School Board. Others may vote for two people for Council and one for School Board. And so on and so forth. But I think people know how democracy works now, though—I don’t believe I need to explain every possibility.
You did say, “You’ll be voting for three school board member and two City Council members”. Some may mistakenly think that means that they MUST vote for two city council seats and three school board seats. I wanted to clarify this so that people don’t think they have to vote for a candidate they may not believe is suited for the position. I do believe that Rob Schilling will benefit the most by the single shot votes that are cast and Dave Norris and Julian Tallifiero chances will be hurt by single shot voting.
Well then, let me also clarify and say that I my use of the active voice does not mean that I can actually predict the future. I don’t know that you will vote. Perhaps you’ve already voted, meaning that my psychic powers might be real, but off by a few hours. Or perhaps you’re not going to vote at all, in which case I’ve totally failed.
My apologies for any confusion.
Also, my use of the words “kids” was intended to be cute. A sort of an American version of the -ito diminutive as applied in Spanish, a suffix that we’re sadly lacking. I’m not actually encouraging kids to vote. That would be illegal, because “kids” implies “under 18,” which is the age at which we allow people to vote in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Finally, the phrase “get on it” is a figure of speech, a colloquialism used to urge somebody to take a particular action. I’m not encouraging anybody to literally stand atop the polling machines. They are electronic devices that are not designed to withstand the weight of a human that is of voting age (see previous clarification). I hope that nobody will actually “get on” the polling machines.
Again, my apologies for any confusion.
Whatever.
Kevin, I don’t think SO many people rely SO heavily on cvillenews.com for their voting instructions (sorry, Waldo, but I fear it’s true) that it’s critically important to remind people that they could, theoretically, of course, and in an attempt to cover all the possible bases, vote for 1 of 2, or 2 of 2, or 0 of 2 city councilor spots and 1 of 3, or 2 of 3, or 3 of 3, or 0 of 3 school board slots, which is not even to delve into the possibilities that open up when one considers the write-in options.
Geez, I feel like we’ve wandered into Stephen Colbert territory here.
How about simplifying the whole thing:
“There are 2 open City Council seats and 3 open School Board seats. Vote for your candidate(s) of choice.”
Ah, but that could lead people to vote only for candidates. In fact, people can vote for whomever they like, regardless of whether they’ve declared their candidacy. If a majority chose to write in Kevin Cox for City Council, I do believe the seat would be his. And who are we, cvillenewsers, to provide voters with the false impression that they must vote only for candidates?
*sigh*
The burden of being the authority on elections bears down most severely in times like these. Woe, woe is me!
Lets just all agree that ours is an imperfect language, and Waldo is doing his best to entertain and inform, something I don’t envy. Thanks for the old college try though, Waldo (not meant to imply you must attend college to vote)
PoliticsOnMyMind wrote it the way that I would have. It’s not confusing and it is accurate. If a voter chooses to write-in then their choice becomes their candidate.
It will be interesting to see how the number of single shot votes in this election compares to the election of four years ago. I think the number of single shots last time was about three times greater than the previous election. It will also be interesting to see the number of voters who vote in the city council races but not in the school board races. I think that substantially more will vote in the city council election than in the school board election. I was a little surprised that no school board candidate made much of an issue out of school spending.
I never bought all of the fussing four years ago about people voting for only one candidate. If somebody only sees one candidate who appeals to them, who am I to complain? Are we going to force people to vote for every available seat? Schilling’s had a big ad in the Progress the other day inviting people to vote only for him and for nobody else. I just can’t muster any outrage that a Republican would suggest that people not vote for Democrats.
Well I live in Albemarle with a Charlottesville address so I guess I am OUT OF LUCK 2day!~
Looks like a done deal (already?! I just voted 2 hours ago). Schilling is out and the Council is all Dem. Even as a leftie, I really wish there was a strong voice of opposition on the council. But Schilling ain’t the guy and today it looks like I am not the only one who feels that way.
Anyway, here is the story from The Hook.