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Fairfax County election officials are preparing for four special elections in less than two months after an already demanding stretch of off-cycle voting.
“Our entire staff has been tremendously busy — we’ve got our hands full,” county registrar and elections director Eric Spicer told the Electoral Board on Jan. 7. Still, he credited what he called a “fantastic team” with keeping operations on track.
Spicer joked that the board met on a Wednesday, “so we don’t have an election today, but we will have many more.”
The new contests follow special elections late in 2025 for Virginia’s 11th Congressional District and the Braddock District seat on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
The upcoming schedule begins Jan. 13, when voters will choose a successor to Del. David Bulova in the 11th House District. Bulova was appointed secretary of natural and historic resources by incoming Gov. Abigail Spanberger.
A Jan. 20 election will fill the 17th House District seat being vacated by Mark Sickles, Spanberger’s choice for secretary of finance.
On Feb. 10, voters will select a replacement for state Sen. Adam Ebbin in the 39th Senate District. Ebbin is resigning to become a senior adviser to the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority.
The fourth election, scheduled for March 3, will fill the Braddock District seat on the Fairfax County School Board. Rachna Sizemore-Heizer left that position after winning the Board of Supervisors seat previously held by James Walkinshaw.
Walkinshaw was elected to Congress in September following the death of Rep. Gerry Connolly.
None of the recent or scheduled elections covers all of Fairfax County, which has 265 voting precincts and nearly 760,000 active registered voters.
Even so, the run of special elections may continue beyond March. Officials could face an April statewide referendum on a proposed constitutional amendment that would permit congressional districts to be redrawn before November’s midterm election.
Officials Plan for Ballot Shortages
During the roughly 30-minute Jan. 7 meeting, board members discussed how to prevent precincts from running out of ballots.
County staff must estimate turnout for every election and remain ready to respond if demand exceeds expectations.
“It’s a guessing game that we have to be flexible about,” Electoral Board Chair Kate Hanley said.
Spicer said officials can use a printer capable of producing 10,000 ballots per hour and have a plan for delivering emergency supplies. That system depends on precinct officers alerting the central elections office before their stock runs too low.
“We’ve built in a lot of contingencies,” Spicer said.
The county’s aim is to print enough ballots for everyone who votes without ending the day with large quantities left unused. Some jurisdictions prepare enough ballots for every registered voter, Spicer said, but Fairfax officials consider that an unnecessary expense.
Democratic Appointee Joins Electoral Board
The meeting was also the first for Megan Challender, a Democrat appointed by the Fairfax County Circuit Court to replace Republican Jeffrey Shapiro.
Spanberger’s succession of Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin will eventually reverse the partisan balance of more than 130 local electoral boards across Virginia. Boards with two Republicans and one Democrat will transition to two Democrats and one Republican as terms expire during the coming year.
Shapiro was replaced because his term was the first to expire among the two Republicans on the Fairfax board.
Arlington’s board has also shifted from a Republican majority to a Democratic one. Falls Church will retain two Republicans and one Democrat during 2026 because its next Republican term does not expire until the end of the year.
Challender joins Hanley, a former Democratic chair of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, and Republican Kevin Pinkney. Challender and Pinkney are both attorneys.
Hanley will remain chair in 2026, with Challender serving as vice chair and Pinkney as secretary. Virginia law requires the chair and secretary of an electoral board to belong to different political parties.