ROANOKE, VA – Many Virginians have already cast ballots in the state’s special election, where voters are deciding a single, high-stakes question: whether Virginia should temporarily redraw its congressional map.
10 News visited Roanoke City Office of Voter Registration and Elections and spoke with voters.
“I came today to vote. This is one of the most difficult and I think important issues we have to face,” said Dan Crawford.
Several voters 10 News interviewed said they were supporting the measure, arguing it is about fairness and political balance.
“They’re trying to make it seem like the Democrats are in the wrong to do this—they’re just trying to balance out something the Republicans did,” said Claude Mitchell.
“To maintain fairness in elections,” said Greg Hastings. “The Republicans can gerrymander their states but they don’t want us to do ours.”
The ballot question asks whether the state should temporarily redraw its congressional map. The proposed map would shift Virginia’s congressional delegation from nearly an even split to a possible 10-to-1 Democratic majority.
One voter who spoke off camera told 10 News she planned to vote “no,” but we were unable to get her on camera. 10 News also reached out to the Hill City Young Republicans, but did not hear back about doing an interview today.
Even among supporters, some expressed discomfort with the concept of gerrymandering.
“Many Democrats really hate having to vote yes on this measure because we don’t like the whole gerrymandering idea,” said Gyorgi Voros.
Turnout numbers across Southwest Virginia
Election offices across the region reported strong participation, with early turnout figures including:
- Roanoke County: nearly 6,000 voters
- Roanoke City: more than 4,000 voters
- Salem: nearly 1,600 voters
- Lynchburg: about 2,500 voters
- Pittsylvania County (as of Friday): nearly 2,000 voters
- Botetourt County: more than 2,000 voters
- Giles County: more than 1,000 voters
- Salem City: More than 1,500 voters
Pittsylvania County General Registrar Shani Shorter said the county has already surpassed the number of voters who had participated by the same point in November.
Shorter sent a statement that said: “As of Friday, we have served a total of 1,977 voters during early voting. At this same point during the November election, we had served 1,554 voters, which places us approximately 27.2% ahead of that turnout. As of 1:45 p.m. today, we have already surpassed the number of voters who had participated by this point in November, and we are continuing to see steady traffic throughout the day. Overall, we are seeing strong voter engagement.”
In Giles County, Director of Elections Tyler Perkins said turnout has been unusually strong, even compared with a presidential election cycle.
“The number of voters that has turned out so far for this special election is higher than normal, even compared to a general election,” Perkins said in a partial statement. “As was shown from the turnout statistics from 2024 November, we only had 967 voters this far into early voting during a presidential election.”
For many voters, the decision—whatever their position—came down to participation and process.
“Just trying to do my part. Keep voting fair,” said Jesse Blevins.