A Horde of New Voters, a Host of Uncertainty

Loudoun County has grown by more than 32,000 registered voters since the last county election in 2003. That's only a few thousand shy of the entire 2003 election turnout.

There's a lot of uncertainty about these new voters -- where they're from, whether they're Republicans or Democrats, and whether they're even engaged in Tuesday's election, when county residents will cast ballots for the Board of Supervisors, the School Board, constitutional officers and the state legislature.

Del. David E. Poisson (D), who is seeking his second term, thinks a lot of the newcomers are truly independent-minded voters who have yet to place themselves on the spectrum of local politics. He is running against Republican Lynn C. Chapman in House District 32, which covers eastern Loudoun.

"Loudoun is still a community in transition," Poisson said. "It is not as settled as Fairfax. People are still new, feeling their way around politics and uncertain what the party labels mean at the local level."

So, long story short, the outcome of Tuesday's election is anyone's guess.

One thing that is for certain is that the Loudoun County Electoral Board needs poll workers to manage all those new voters. For information on how to work the polls Tuesday, contact the board at 703-777-0548 or dprice@loudoun.gov.

In Fundraising, GOP Has It

Here's an interesting tidbit from the most recent campaign finance filings by Board of Supervisors candidates: As of Oct. 24, Susan Klimek Buckley, who is running against Supervisor Mick Staton Jr. (R) in the Sugarland Run District, was the only Democrat to break the $100,000 fundraising mark.

Buckley had raised $110,753, including $2,000 in loans. It's an impressive figure if you consider that the next most well-funded Democrat, Stevens Miller, raised a little more than half that amount.

But Staton has raised far more than Buckley -- $190,577. The figure includes money left over from his unsuccessful bid for the state Senate last year and more than $26,000 donated by the campaign of his father-in-law, former delegate Richard H. Black.

It's one of several supervisor races in eastern Loudoun in which the Republican candidate has significantly outraised the Democrat. In the Sterling District, Republican incumbent Eugene A. Delgaudio has raised $219,386, six times as much as the Democrat, Jeanne West.

Overall, it has been a record-breaking fundraising year in Loudoun. The supervisor candidates have amassed more than $1.8 million for their campaigns, according to the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project, compared with nearly $1.6 million in 2003, when a record was set.

An Especially Nasty Season

According to candidates, campaign workers and longtime Loudoun residents, this election season has been exceedingly bitter and negative. And the attacks have moved into high gear in the final week before the election.