[Note: This is a follow-up to a Sunnyside Times article in March featuring the Democratic primary.]
This year’s Republican primary will be held on Tuesday, June 23rd. Originally scheduled for June 9th, the date was postponed owing to issues arising from the coronavirus pandemic. The purpose of the election is for Virginia voters to select a candidate to run against Senator Mark Warner in the November 3rd election.
Three candidates have qualified to be on the ballot in June: Alissa Baldwin, Daniel Gade, and Tom Speciale. The field initially held seven candidates, but these three were the only ones to receive enough petition signatures to make it onto the ballot. Ironically, one candidate, Omari Faulkner, sued to lower the threshold for petition signatures from the statute-required 10,000 to 3,500, claiming that social distancing requirements made it extremely difficult for candidates to obtain the required number of signatures. Although his suit was successful, Faulkner himself did not wind up with enough qualifying signatures.
On their websites all three candidates tout their conservative credentials. Alissa Baldwin is a Civics teacher in Nottoway County who “’wants to make the Constitution great again.” Retired Lt. Col. Daniel Gade claims “to have served the Constitution since I was 17.” And Army reservist Tom Speciale asserts that he is “the strongest Second Amendment candidate in the race.”
Current polls suggest that the eventual Republican candidate will face an uphill struggle in trying to defeat Mark Warner because in the twelve years Warner has been in the Senate Virginia has moved from a battleground state to a “purple” state to one that is now fairly reliable blue, as evidenced in the 2018 election, when Republicans lost three Congressional seats as well as control of the General Assembly.
Because Virginia doesn’t register voters by political party, any voter can participate in this primary. If you need to register to vote, the following information should be useful:
You can register in person at the Rockingham County voter registration office by 5:00 pm on Tuesday, May 26th. (But note that the website for Rockingham County government states that county offices are closed to the public at this time.)
You can register by mail, though applications must be postmarked by May 26th.
You can register online until 11:59 pm on Tuesday, May 26th.
The following are deadlines for absentee voting:
You can register in person from Friday, May 8th at 8:00 am through Saturday, June 20th at 4:00 pm. (But the Rockingham County government website notes that owing to COVID-19, in-office absentee voting may be limited, at least through May 31st.) Outside curbside voting will, however, be offered beginning Friday, May 8th.
The deadline to receive a ballot by mail is Tuesday, June 16th by 5:00 pm
The deadline to request an absentee ballot online is Tuesday, June 16th at 11:59 pm.
