Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Precinct Notes
The Turnout
Nearly 47 percent of the 3345 registered voters in Buckingham (precinct 045) went to the polls Tuesday and overwhelmingly supported all things Democrat. The numbers below do not count absentee voters from the neighborhood.
Buckingham Precinct results Arlington races:
County Board
Zimmerman (D): 909
McMenamin (R): 357
Ruebner (G): 81
School Board
Baird (D): 830
Espenoza (I): 512
Buckingham precinct results commonwealth and federal races:
U.S. Senate
Webb (D): 1178
Allen (R): 359
Parker (Independent Green): 15
U.S. House (8th)
Moran (D): 1092
O'Donoghue (R): 385
Hurysz (I): 64
Ballot Question 1 (Marriage):
No: 1185
Yes: 343
++++++++++
Marriage Amendment
Lifelong Arlingtonian Alicia Kenworthy worked the Buckingham Precinct all Election Day (except for about and hour-and-a-half mid-morning, she said) trying to get people to strike down Ballot Question #1, the question that asked Virginians if they wanted to amend the Constitution to keep unmarried couples from entering any union “that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance, or effects of marriage.”
While I spoke with Ms. Kenworthy, a woman came to say that she liked the first half of the amendment that’s aimed rather clearly at homosexual couples (“That only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid in or recognized by this Commonwealth and its political subdivisions.”), but didn’t like the second half.
Ms. Kenworthy told her to vote no, to force the powers that be to reword the question, but the woman would not hear that. Her answer was simply not to vote on the issue at all so that the question will have to be reworded.
With confused logic such as this it might not be any surprise that the Ballot Question #1 passed with a clear victory, 57 percent of the vote, in Virginia.
++++++++++
Send in the Air Force, retired...
You can blame Todd Davidson if your line in the Barrett Elementary School gym wound around then out the door. Though fast, he cannot be in two places at once, and if you were in the long line, most likely Mr. Davidson was signing-in people to vote at the other table.
The retired Air Force linguist who flew reconnaissance for 20 years can read “alpha-lists” exceedingly fast, so finding the voter on the list of those registered was no problem.
“It’s amazing he was that good and that fast,” said Doug First, an officer of the election.
Mr. Davidson said he was moved from one table to the other regularly. At one point in the morning he’d shortened the line at one table significantly and then, “I switched and cleared out the other line.”
++++++++++
Young Buckingham
This is completely unscientific, (and with luck, I’ll have time to double check this), but Buckingham is getting younger. At least that was my take at Barrett Elementary School Tuesday, about 5:00 p.m. (and my wife corroborated this from her trip to the polls at about 9:30 a.m.). I was surprised by the number of people in what I guessed were their 20s or early 30s.
So I stopped one younger looking guy and asked what gives:
“I just love the area,” said, Hud Coughlin, 32. He technically doesn’t live in the neighborhood, but has lived in the townhouses across from Ballston Mall for two years and votes in the Buckingham precinct.
He said he was happy to buy in a neighborhood that hadn’t ridden the housing bubble as fast or as high as other neighborhoods. He sees it as a strong long-term investment, he said.
Nearly 47 percent of the 3345 registered voters in Buckingham (precinct 045) went to the polls Tuesday and overwhelmingly supported all things Democrat. The numbers below do not count absentee voters from the neighborhood.
Buckingham Precinct results Arlington races:
County Board
Zimmerman (D): 909
McMenamin (R): 357
Ruebner (G): 81
School Board
Baird (D): 830
Espenoza (I): 512
Buckingham precinct results commonwealth and federal races:
U.S. Senate
Webb (D): 1178
Allen (R): 359
Parker (Independent Green): 15
U.S. House (8th)
Moran (D): 1092
O'Donoghue (R): 385
Hurysz (I): 64
Ballot Question 1 (Marriage):
No: 1185
Yes: 343
++++++++++
Marriage Amendment
Lifelong Arlingtonian Alicia Kenworthy worked the Buckingham Precinct all Election Day (except for about and hour-and-a-half mid-morning, she said) trying to get people to strike down Ballot Question #1, the question that asked Virginians if they wanted to amend the Constitution to keep unmarried couples from entering any union “that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance, or effects of marriage.”
While I spoke with Ms. Kenworthy, a woman came to say that she liked the first half of the amendment that’s aimed rather clearly at homosexual couples (“That only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid in or recognized by this Commonwealth and its political subdivisions.”), but didn’t like the second half.
Ms. Kenworthy told her to vote no, to force the powers that be to reword the question, but the woman would not hear that. Her answer was simply not to vote on the issue at all so that the question will have to be reworded.
With confused logic such as this it might not be any surprise that the Ballot Question #1 passed with a clear victory, 57 percent of the vote, in Virginia.
++++++++++
Send in the Air Force, retired...
You can blame Todd Davidson if your line in the Barrett Elementary School gym wound around then out the door. Though fast, he cannot be in two places at once, and if you were in the long line, most likely Mr. Davidson was signing-in people to vote at the other table.
The retired Air Force linguist who flew reconnaissance for 20 years can read “alpha-lists” exceedingly fast, so finding the voter on the list of those registered was no problem.
“It’s amazing he was that good and that fast,” said Doug First, an officer of the election.
Mr. Davidson said he was moved from one table to the other regularly. At one point in the morning he’d shortened the line at one table significantly and then, “I switched and cleared out the other line.”
++++++++++
Young Buckingham
This is completely unscientific, (and with luck, I’ll have time to double check this), but Buckingham is getting younger. At least that was my take at Barrett Elementary School Tuesday, about 5:00 p.m. (and my wife corroborated this from her trip to the polls at about 9:30 a.m.). I was surprised by the number of people in what I guessed were their 20s or early 30s.
So I stopped one younger looking guy and asked what gives:
“I just love the area,” said, Hud Coughlin, 32. He technically doesn’t live in the neighborhood, but has lived in the townhouses across from Ballston Mall for two years and votes in the Buckingham precinct.
He said he was happy to buy in a neighborhood that hadn’t ridden the housing bubble as fast or as high as other neighborhoods. He sees it as a strong long-term investment, he said.
Comments:
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Buckingham is definitely a great area for young professionals! Great diversity, reasonable prices, and walking distance to Ballston and even Clarendon if the weather's nice.
I'm disappointed the marriage amendment passed, but supporters of gay marriage or civil unions should be patient. Virginia is going from red to purple, and I have a feeling in 10 years this will be a much different issue. Not much consolation for those committed couples who have no rights now, though.
I'm disappointed the marriage amendment passed, but supporters of gay marriage or civil unions should be patient. Virginia is going from red to purple, and I have a feeling in 10 years this will be a much different issue. Not much consolation for those committed couples who have no rights now, though.
So I ran into the lady with the twisted logic today... she was standing in front of me in line at Cafe Parisien. She didn't say anything, but glanced away and sort of hung her head low.
I think she realizes now what a mistake that was.
*sigh*
Alicia
I think she realizes now what a mistake that was.
*sigh*
Alicia
# posted by 
: 6:20 PM
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