Northern Virginia Election Volunteer Opportunities

I have been volunteering my time since the 2004 election with a group of people that I met through the John Kerry website. Well, OK, I've actually only been meeting with the book club, but the main group, Virginia Votes, has been reaching out to local candidates to help their campaigns. Anyway, we wanted to continue our association and support Democrats in the 2006 mid-term elections and all of the other elections that do not get as much attention as the presidential election cycle.

We feel that it is important that we concentrate on supporting local candidates in all elections, particularly during the off years. We can affect many changes by bringing more people into the election process during the non-presidential election years and keeping them there during the presidential elections. Also, we can begin to chip away at the republican dominance of the issues and election practices by making changes on the local level.

So, I invite all of you, (yes both of my readers) to get involved. If you're in Northern Virginia, please contact Virginia Votes, go to the voter registration training, contact a Democratic candidate in your area (some suggestions below) or e-mail me directly.

Voter Registration Training
August 10 at 7:30 to 9:00 in Prince William County
Prince William Professional Firefighters Hall
5521 Mapledale plaza
Woodbridge 22193

August 17 from 7:00 to 8:45
George Mason Regional Library
7100 Little River Turnpike
Annandale, VA 22003

13th District
Bruce Roemmelt – http://www.bruce2005.org
Bruce is running a very energetic, personal contact, campaign against a very conservative Robert Marshall in parts of Loudoun and Prince William Counties. He’s canvassing his district (70,000 registered voters, the largest district in the state; only 12,800 turned out in the 2003 election).

32nd District
Dave Poisson - http://www.poissonfordelegate.com
Dave is running against very conservative Richard Black in north-eastern Loudon Co. with some 58,000 registered voters (a little less than 15,000 turned out in the 2003 election).

41st District
Dave Marsden - http://www.marsdenfordelegate.com/
Dave is running for an open seat against Michael Golden who has been endorsed (and funded) by the Virginia Action PAC (a very conservative group, backed by Grover Norquist’s organization if that’s a familiar name). His race is located in part of Fairfax Co.

42nd District - http://www.werkheiserfordelegate.com/
Greg Werkheiser is running against another very conservative, David Albo, in the Springfield area of Fairfax Co.

51st District
Earnie Porta - http://www.earnieporta.com/welcome.htm
Porta is running in a part of Pr. William Co. In 2003 his opponent won, unopposed, with 8100 votes (a 25% turnout).

67th District
Chuck Caputo - http://www.caputofordelegate.com/
Caputo, in a district overlapping part of Fairfax and Loudon Counties, entered late and is running against Chris Craddock. Craddock is the one of the six Virginia Action PAC candidates who won in the primaries as the PAC’s attempt to defeat moderate Republicans who voted in favor of the last session’s budget-balancing bill.