Election Update #5 - May 29, 2020

Election Update #5 – May 29, 2020

What’s New

• 2020 Voter Guide. We’ve created a digital voter guide to consolidate election information. We also made several changes to our website this week.  
• Vote-by-Mail PSA. Special thanks to Rob Farr on Arlington’s Communications team for creating a vote-by-mail PSA to assist voters navigate the vote by mail process. A Spanish translation is on its way.

Important Dates

June 2, 2020, 8am – Logic & Accuracy Testing of voting equipment used in Republican Primary for US Senate. We will be certifying the equipment to be used for the upcoming election. Watch Online.

June 9, 2020, 7pm – Candidate Filing Deadline for November 3, 2020 Election. All independent candidates for local office (School Board & County Board) need to have their paperwork filed with our office by 7pm. We have 1 notary available for petition pages. Please make an appointment before coming in. voters@arlingtonva.us

Legal & Procedure Changes

There have been no substantial legal or process changes this week. We did have 2 service delays.

1. Delay in Mail Processing. We were unable to process mail Monday because of the holiday and Wednesday because access to the mail room was blocked for cleaning. This resulted in a 24 hour delay in processing mail on both days.
2. Delay in application processing. The statewide voter registration system has had several outages this week that has resulted in small delays in processing registration and mail applications. 21 applications received yesterday were unable to be processed until today. We remain in full legal compliance to have ballots mailed within 3 business days of receiving an application.
   

Data

Election	Mail Requests	Mail Returned*	In-person / Early	Total Voted
Republican Primary	625	26	12	38
Special Election	5151	0	14	14

* We received ~85 ballots total for both elections by late Thursday that had not been entered and proofed by the deadline to publish this email.

How You Can Help?

• Help Review our 2020 Voter Guide. We updated several sections of our website this week. Let us know what you think? Email comments, missing links, things we forgot to update to voters@arlingtonva.us.
  
• Adopt a Library. Two libraries have needed restocking! Thank you for keeping an eye on these stations for us. Voter registration and absentee ballot applications are posted outside of all libraries. If you walk past a library regularly, check on the status of the forms and let us know if it needs a refill.
• Sign up to be an Officer of Election.

Questions

1. Is it possible to vote for Arlington County school board? The election for school board is in November. The Arlington Democrats are running an endorsement process. Voters should contact them for more information. https://arlingtondemocrats.org/vote/school-board-caucus/
2. I’m a new VA resident but unable to visit the DMV to establish residency. I’m not sure how to register. Can you help? Voters do not need to establish residency in Virginia at the DMV prior to registering to vote. Registration Applications are available outside of every library. They can be mailed or placed in our drop box. Voters can also register in person at our office M-F, 8:30am-4:30pm. Registration is currently closed. All registration records submitted will be held for processing until after the election.
3. Is the drop box for ballot applications only? Or can voters drop off completed absentee ballots? Ballots must be returned via the mail or personally to the General Registrar. Ballots can be dropped off at a supervised drop box.
4. Must one park / exit his/her car in order to access the drop box? Yes. The drop box is located on the Clarendon side of 2100 Clarendon Blvd. It is not possible to drive up to the box.
5. What is the last day to register to vote or change address? Registration is currently closed. All registration records submitted now will be held for processing until after the election.