City bows to Falls Church in turnout wager

Thomas Jefferson is heading out of Central Virginia.

Though voter numbers were the highest Charlottesville has ever seen during an election, city officials conceded defeat Wednesday in a turnout challenge against Falls Church — and will soon be sending a wagered souvenir bust up to the Northern Virginia city.

Turnout for the presidential election showed that just more than 66 percent of Charlottesville voters cast ballots Tuesday, whereas turnout reached nearly 80 percent in Falls Church. The numbers were virtually identical from 2004, when Charlottesville had 67 percent voter turnout and Falls Church had 81 percent — the highest of any Virginia locality.

“Even though the percentages didn’t go up that much, the number of voters went up dramatically,” said Mayor Dave Norris, who instituted the challenge with Falls Church because of its impressive 2004 election turnout. “We’re very happy about that.”

On Tuesday, 18,942 voters cast ballots for the presidential race among Charlottes-ville’s eight precincts and absentee voting. The city’s voter rolls have ballooned in recent years, adding more than 8,000 registered voters since 2004 for a total of 28,678 this year.

According to the Virginia State Board of Elections, 6,750 of Falls Church’s 8,445 registered voters cast ballots this year.

Charlottesville’s gloomy weather on Tuesday and concern over long lines at polling locations, Norris said, may have deterred some residents from venturing out. Officials previously expected that the city would have at least an 80 percent turnout for the 2008 election.

“I think there might have been some people who were fearful of having to wait in long lines and didn’t think they would have time to vote,” Norris said, adding that most of the long lines he saw were in the morning just after the polls opened.

Nonetheless, Norris said he is glad the city took on the challenge and hopes to do better the next time around — then $60 may not have to come out of his pocket to send the third president on a trip.