Suburbs, Town and Country: Americans All Vote Today

A touch screen went out at 8 a.m. at Belmont Ridge Middle School. A candidate hit a deer enroute to the polls. Turnout was so good that one precinct chair sent for more paper ballots.

And the weather smiled on the candidates who were still shaking hands, smiling and hoping for a win as the polls remained open for 13 hours on Election Day in Loudoun County.

"We brought our teenager to see how the process works," said Dona and Jeff Grado of Lansdowne, whose daughter, Isabella, had never been to the polls before. She attends school at her parents' polling place, Belmont Ridge Middle School, so she saw some of her teachers in the halls. 

A bond referendum on the ballot got her parents motivated to vote, they said. "It would affect where she would go to high school," said Jeff Grado.

By 12:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Belmont Ridge had processed 667 voters, according to Precinct Chief Tony Fasolo, 74, a retired Army colonel. Expecting as many as 2,400 voters, he'd already had a couple of headaches when a touch screen went out at 8 a.m. And there was a brief period when there weren't enough assistants to help voters from Leisure World, Fasolo said. But he solved both problems, and everyone voted. Leisure World residents "are so patriotic," Fasolo said. "They could vote absentee ballots, but they want to come and vote." 

Paper ballots backed up the electronic machine capably, he said, and would actually be easier to collect at the end of the day. "A lot of people think [electronic votes] go straight to Richmond," he said; "but it stays right there. Touch is really for disabled people who need voice recognition," he said.

Sheilla Hampton brought her son, Justin, and their dog, Victor, to the polls. They live close enough to walk to Belmont Ridge, and it was a beautiful day. Hampton said her experience was "nice and smooth. There were no lines." 

"I've always voted," she said. "It's part of our Constitutional duty." 

At in Leesburg, Nancy Goetzinger greeted voters with Democrat sample ballots; Sarah Smith did the same for Republicans.

"Me gusta ver a los Lations votando," Smith told an arriving group of voters: "I'm happy to see Latinos voting." Once a member of the Loudoun School Board, Smith now encourages voters to influence who is elected, because the School Board has become "a protectorate and not a directorate," she said.

In Hamilton, where the polling place is a Baptist Church, political signs crowded the grassy medians in the parking lot and enthusiastic partisans almost outnumbered voters. Sally Mann had been there since 5:45 a.m., she said.

Precinct Chief Michael Corrigan said he expected the predicted turnout of 30 percent. "We're easily 10 percent above the average for turnout in every election," he said, "whether for general, special, or town elections.

"The voters here get out. They know what they're doing."

The polls close at 7 p.m.