Super Tuesday: Alexandrians Head to the Polls

Alexandrians are on pace to cast ballots in significantly greater numbers today than during the 2016 Democratic presidential primary.

Thousands of Alexandria residents have participated in the presidential primary day in Virginia, which joins 13 other states across the country in the race for the Democratic candidate to face off against President Donald Trump, in November.

Citywide voting tallies show that 23% of 97,828 registered voters cast ballots as of noon, with the Matthew Maury precinct in the lead with 31.5% of voters who headed to the polls. So far, the precinct with the worst turnout is John Adams at 10.6%, or 428 ballots cast out of 4,049 registered voters.

As of noon turnout in Alexandria is at 23.2% w/absentees. 4 years ago, turnout was 15%.

Highest turnout in the City is Maury at 31.5%. Lowest is John Adams at 10.5%. pic.twitter.com/o3XyfgVqeQ

— Justin Wilson (@justindotnet) March 3, 2020

As of noon, 22,738 of 97,828 registered voters in Alexandria (23%) had cast ballots in today's Democratic presidential primary election, compared to 15% at this time in the 2016 primary. Polls are open to any registered voter until 7pm: https://t.co/K3FttUfbme.

— AlexandriaVAGov (@AlexandriaVAGov) March 3, 2020

As of 2 p.m., the Mount Vernon Recreation Center precinct saw 1,285 votes cast, or 28% of the 4,541 registered voters.

“We’re expecting citywide turnout of about 50%, and we’re probably on track for that,” said Mount Vernon Precinct Captain Jim Bender, adding that the most voters usually arrive in the first three hours and last three hours that polls are open.

Madelene Kysilko voted for Joe Biden. The 17 year-old Alexandrian turns 18 in October, and was able to vote for the first-time in today’s Super Tuesday presidential primary.

“It was a lot more straightforward than I thought it would be. It’s very exciting,” Kysilko told ALXnow outside of the polling place at Mount Vernon Recreation Center. “I think what needs to change is the hostility. A lot of things that [President Trump] says are factually incorrect. It’s very it’s also very dangerous language, and he has a very kind of aggressive core support, and that is kind of alarming.”

Student Peregrine Enger, 22, voted for Bernie Sanders.

“Joe Biden supported the Iraq war, and look at Mike Bloomberg, with his stop and frisk clause in New York. They say that they’re on the blue side, but really, they’re just demagogues,” Enger said. “I care more for people who care more about ideology and less about buzzwords and actually care about people.”

Leigh Foley voted with her husband and 6-year-old son, who doesn’t know that Donald Trump is President.

“We have told him that President Obama is the president,” she said. “He knows that Joe Biden is President Obama’s best friend, and that Joe Biden can step in on day one and rollback all of the executive orders and reinstate Obama’s executive orders.”

“Biden can begin to rebuild our reputation internationally. And what does that do? It gets us to a place where we are not right now, which is to restore national security for the U.S.,” Foley added. “There’s no other candidate that has the ability to do that. And I think that’s incredibly important.”

The polls are open until 7 p.m.