An Election

I had thought in advance about photoblogging the election in Charlottesville, but in my rush to get ready at 4:20 a.m., I forgot my camera. So I had to resort to using my cellphone to take a handful of snapshots during the course of a very busy day. Here are the (somewhat satisfactory) results from Virginia Election Day 2005.

Passers-by near the Charlottesville City Hall Annex (where the Office of Voter Registration is located) were reminded to vote yesterday, November 8.


Outside Recreation Precinct, we found Joan Schilling campaigning for an elected school board. The referendum to switch from an appointed to an elected school board won overwhelmingly, approximately 73 percent to 27 percent, winning strong majorities in every precinct.


Recreation Precinct was a busy place. Tom McCrystal, here seen with civic activist Peter Kleeman, was campaigning at Recreation -- the largest of Charlottesville's eight precincts -- for the 57th District House of Delegates seat.


It wasn't much later that we found McCrystal's opponent, David Toscano (posing with former Electoral Board member Leroy Hamlett), also campaigning at Recreation Precinct. Toscano went on to win the race, 79 to 21 percent.


Up at Walker Precinct, City Councilor Rob Schilling was campaigning for an elected School Board. Tom McCrystal was apparently following me around from precinct to precinct, or maybe it was me following him. It was a long day, and the memory blurs.


One of the hazards of cameraphone photography: a week flash. As night fell and we came close to the end of the voting day, I came upon these UVA students campaigning for the Democratic ticket outside Tonsler Precinct. Perhaps their efforts account for the fact that Democrats won every race in Tonsler by a margin of close to 10 to 1. (They may look clouded in mystery, but I'm sure these students will recognize themselves, even in shadow.)


Votes counted in Charlottesville, I headed up to Wolfie's for the local GOP election night party. The mood was mixed, with Jerry Kilgore losing to Tim Kaine and both Albemarle County Supervisor candidates failing to gain the seats they sought. But 58th District incumbent Delegate Rob Bell won a resounding victory, bringing him a third term in the General Assembly. Here he is with supporters, including his wife, Jessica (far left).

Today we do the canvass, and I expect with the closeness of the Deeds-McDonnell race for Attorney General we'll be getting considerable scrutiny. So I think I'd better get some sleep in preparation for a long, long day-after-election-day day.