by Dick Hall-Sizemore

I served as an officer of election yesterday in my home precinct. 

It was a quiet day.  There were periods lasting ten minutes or more when there were absolutely no voters in the polling place.  Then several people would come in and then there would be another quiet period.  Between 4:30 and 6:00, there was a steady stream of voters, but no one had to wait more than two or three minutes.

In all, 305 people submitted ballots in the machine and there were a couple of provisional voters.  There are a little over 4,100 registered voters in the precinct.

The precinct, Lakeside, is one of the larger ones in the county.  It is a traditional middle class community.  Lots of relatively small houses—ranchers and Cape Cods—built in the 1950s and 60s.  There are a couple of older, well kept-up apartment complexes.  The precinct borders the city of Richmond on the Northside and lies between the subsidized housing areas of eastern Henrico and the newer, larger, expensive subdivisions of the West End, Glen Allen, and Short Pump areas.

It is a solid Democratic precinct.  In 2021, Terry McAulliffe got 52.6 percent in the gubernatorial race.  In 2024, 65.5 percent of the Lakeside voters favored Kamala Harris.  In yesterday’s Democratic primary, Lakeside voters overwhelmingly favored Ghazala Hashmi for Lieutenant Governor (71 percent).  A smaller majority (55.6 percent) stuck with Henrico’s Commonwealth’s attorney, Shannon Taylor, in her failing bid for the Attorney General nomination.

One young man is probably very gratified by the large majority for Hashmi.  He was the lone poll worker for candidates at the precinct.  He spent the whole day, by himself, at the edge of the school parking lot handing out flyers for Hashmi and touting her candidacy to anyone who would stop to listen.  One has to admire his dedication and persistence.

The voters were overwhelmingly white.  My perception was that there were a lot more women than male voters.

The only unusual occurrence was the confusion shown by one man as he examined his ballot after it was handed to him.  After conferring with the ballot officer, he announced he did not want to vote and started to leave.  From his comments, it was obvious that he was surprised and disappointed that there were no Republicans on the ballot.  The chief elections officer explained that it was a Democratic primary and there was no Republican primary and persuaded the man to cast his ballot without marking it.  The chief then thanked him and encouraged him to come back in November.

Some may ridicule the voter for not being aware that it was only a Democratic primary.  On the other hand, he can be admired.  He knew it was Election Day and he took the trouble and time to come to the polling place to register his preferences.  A whole lot of people did not bother to do that.

The chief election officer wanted him to cast that ballot, even if unmarked, because, otherwise, the count on the voting machine would not have been in sync with the count on the electronic polling books and he would have had to take some extra steps to account for that “missing” ballot.

In a way, I do feel sorry for that voter.  When he checked in at the table with the electronic polling book, it was recorded that he participated in a Democratic primary.  He is probably going to wonder in the future how he got on the mailing lists for all the Democratic propaganda.