CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Tuesday is primary elections day with polls open across the Commonwealth 6AM-to-7PM and all the primaries in this area are for Democratic nominations. Republicans have their three nominees for statewide office in Winsome Earle-Sears for Governor, John Reid for Lt. Governor, and incumbent Jason Miyares for Attorney General. For the Democrats, the nominee for Governor is former Congressional Representative Abigail Spanberger, a Henrico County resident. Democrats have a very crowded field for Lt. Governor nominee choices, and a race between Shannon Taylor of Henrico County and Jay Jones of Norfolk for the Attorney General nomination. Both AG candidates have ties to the University of Virginia with Taylor an international relations grad, and Jones a UVA Law grad. Taylor appears first on the ballot, and Jones second.

There are six hopefuls for the Democrats’ Lt. Governor nomination. (In order of appearance on the ballot):

* Levar Stoney, current Mayor of Richmond
* Babur Lateef, physician and Prince William County School Board Chair, and former UVA Health Board member
* Aaron Rouse, current state senator and former Virginia Tech and NFL football player
* Victor Salgado, senior attorney at Planned Parenthood in Arlington and former federal prosecutor
* Ghazala Hashmi, current state senator and former academic administrator and educator from Chesterfield County
* Alexander Bastani, labor attorney and union leader in northern Virginia

In Albemarle County, you have the statewide races in all the districts and a Board of Supervisors Democratic primary in the Jack Jouett district where long-time incumbent Diantha McKeel is not running for re-election. Voters at Journey Middle School, Slaughter Rec Center, and Albemarle High School will be voting for either Renaissance School history teacher Sally Duncan, who appears first on the ballot, or former UVA econ instructor and historian Dave Shreve. There is no Republican or independent opposition at this time, so the winner, barring a robust write-in campaign by someone, will likely be elected in November.
Click here for sample ballots in Albemarle.

Charlottesville voters have a City Council Democratic primary between three candidates for two nominations. This is the race that looks different from all others because it’s the first-ever city “ranked choice” vote. In this vote, you’ll see 3 boxes… 1, 2, and 3… beside each candidate’s name. In order on the ballot, you’ll find JuanDiego Wade at the top, Charlottesville’s current mayor; Brian Pinkston in the middle, Charlottesville’s current Vice Mayor; and political newcomer and Blue Ridge Health District program director Jen Fleisher at the bottom. On this ballot, you rank the choices in preference with 1 your favorite, followed by your 2nd and 3rd favorite. There is no requirement to rank any of the candidates, or to rank more than one if you don’t want to.
There is a very important polling location change. Because of construction making Buford Middle School inaccessible, that polling location is moved to the Tonsler Recreation Center at 500 Cherry Avenue. Click here for that complete information.
Click here for Charlottesville’s sample ballot.

There are other local primaries, and you can find the ones in your jurisdiction by clicking on this map from the Virginia Public Access Project or clicking here for the VA Dept. of Elections website.