Early voting is underway across Virginia. But one part of Virginia is seeing more early ballots cast.
The 1st Congressional District is first numerically, first in the history of the colonies and first on the leaderboard for early voting. More early votes have been cast here than any other congressional district in Virginia. Elections analyst Chris Piper says the early numbers are driven by exurban Richmond.
"You've typically seen Henrico and Chesterfield with a consistently high turnout among early voting, especially early in the cycle," Piper says. "But, yeah, this also tends to be a much more competitive election than it has in the past."
The 1st Congressional District is a battleground district, one that Democrats are hoping to flip from red to blue. But David Ramadan at George Mason University’s Schar School says people shouldn't overstate the significance of these numbers.
"It's very important for voters not to read much into these numbers," Ramadan says. "These numbers are now the voters that are very engaged and were going to vote regardless. The election will be determined by the independent vote, and the independents are not likely to vote early."
More than a quarter of a million votes have already been cast across Virginia, according to the Department of Elections. Voting ends on Tuesday, November 3rd.
