| VIRGINIA | 13 Electoral Votes |
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| Population
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Virginia State Board of Elections)
Largest counties: Fairfax, Prince William, Virginia Beach city, Loudon, Chesterfield, Henrico. Largest cities: Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Norfolk, Arlington, Richmond. Government
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Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Elections Democratic Party
of VA Richmond
Times-Dispatch Washington
Post-VA  The Old Dominion State |
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| Voter Registration
Deadline: Oct. 13, 2020* *A federal judge ordered the extension of the voter registration deadline to Oct. 15 due to an internet outage on Oct. 13 (+). Early In Person Voting: Sept. 18-Oct. 31, 2020 (+). Absentee Voting: "Voters no longer need a reason to vote absentee. Any registered voter may request an absentee ballot, either in-person or by mail... Absentee ballots returned by mail must be postmarked by Election Day, November 3, 2020 and received by the local voter registration office by noon on Friday, November 6, 2020." Turnout Statistics: 2,814,378 ballots (59.25%) were cast absentee (mail or in person): In Person: 1,860,063 Mail (USPS): 764,812 Mail (non-USPS): 189,176 also 2,063 absentee ballots were returned late and not counted. Notes on Litigation and Legislation: - In Aug. 2020 a vote-by-mail application mailing by the nonprofit Center for Voter Information went seriously awry (+). - As a result of a lawsuit by the ACLU of Virginia a settlement was reached on Aug. 21, 2020 wherein a witness signature is not required for mail in ballots (+). - On Aug. 18, 2020 Gov. Northam announced three proposals for the Nov. election: $2 million for pre-paid postage on absentee ballots; permitting localities to use drop boxes; and providing a process for voters to fix errors on absentee ballots (curing). Northam signed the measures into law on Sept. 4 (+). - An Oct. 28, 2020 ruling blocked counting of absentee ballots without postmarks after Election Day (+). |
Ballot Access Notes (+): Originally the requirement for independent and third party candidates was petitions with signatures of 5,000 qualified voters including at least 200 from each congressional district collected between Jan. 1 and Aug. 21, 2020 plus 13 pledged electors. Third parties sought a waiver of this requirement; on July 16 a judge reduced the number by half to 2,500 signatures (+). Despite the change, the Green (+) and Constitution parties failed to qualify. Kanye West sought to run as an Independent but on Sept. 3 a Richmond Circuit Court judge ruled that he would not appear on the ballot as 11 of 13 of his electors were "obtained by improper, fraudulent and/or misleading means, or are otherwise invalid because of notarial violations and misconduct." |
Overview:
Virginia
was a battleground state, but has tilted Democratic in
recent elections. Democrats picked up three
congressional seats in 2018, won control of the
General Assembly in 2019, and most
observers thought it would end up in the
Democratic column in 2020. Trump Victory waged an active campaign, tallying three million voter contacts, including active in-person campaigning. Biden and the Democrats focused more on virtual events, but did in person canvassing in the closing weeks. In terms of visits, the Trump campaign did relatively few. Trump himself made quite a few visits to play golf at Trump National Golf Club in Potomac Falls through September. He did a rally at Newport News on Sept. 25, and he closed his campaign with an Election Day visit to thank his team at RNC annex in Arlington. On the Democratic side there were visits by Kamala Harris and Jill Biden in September, and four visits by Doug Emhoff in October. Biden won with a plurality of 451,138 votes (10.11 percentage points), carrying 45 counties and independent cities to 88 for Trump. Trump carried CDs 1, 5, 6, and 9 while Biden carried CDs 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10 and 11. Trump | Biden || visits || R, D [VADOE] BALLOT [PDF] See also: Daniella Cheslow. "In Virginia's Vote For Biden, Democrats See Blue Wave Wobble, While Republicans Spy Hope." dcist.com, Nov. 6, 2020. Michael Ginsberg and Ron Wright. "Why Trump Could Win Virginia." American Spectator, Sept. 30, 2020. Norman Leahy. "Opinion: Virginia won't be in Trump's win column–barring a landslide." Washington Post, Sept. 16, 2020. |
| [State Primary: June 23, 2020] |
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| Democrats Biden 705,501 (53.31%), Sanders 306,388 (23.15%), Warren 142,546 (10.77%), Bloomberg 128,030 (9.67%)... Total 1,323,509. details 124 Delegates: 65 District, 21 At-Large, 13 PLEO, 25 Unpledged. |
Republicans
The state party opted not to hold primary; delegates were selected at the state convention. |
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| 1992 | 1996 | 2000 | 2004 | 2008 | 2012 | 2016 |
| Bush 44.96% |
Dole 47.10% |
Bush 52.47% |
Bush 53.68% |
Obama 52.62% |
Obama 51.15% |
Clinton 49.73% |
and
the details...
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| Voting Eligible
Population*: 6,061,032. VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 65.7%. Voter Registration Deadline: Oct. 17, 2016 *extended to Oct. 21 by court order following crash of Virginia's online voter registration system (+). In-Person Absentee Voting: starts Sept. 23, 2016 ...criteria > Voting Absentee: 566,948. |
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Overview:
Virginia was a battleground state, but
Hillary Clinton's selection of Sen. Tim Kaine as her
running mate seemed to tip the balance in favor of
the Democratic ticket. In June the Clinton
campaign had started out with Virginia as one of eight
states where it was running TV advertising, but it
stopped running ads there in July. On Oct. 10
Trump state chairman Corey Stewart was fired.
The Trump campaign nonetheless continued its efforts
in Virginia, including running TV ads (+)
and visits by the candidates and surrogates. The Clinton-Kaine ticket won with plurality of 212,030 votes (5.32 percentage points). Clinton carried 40 counties and independent cities to 93 for Trump. Trump won CDs 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9 while Clinton carried CDs 3, 4, 8, 10 and 11. General Election Visits Clinton | Trump BALLOT [PDF] |
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| Voting Eligible
Population*: 5,555,415. VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 67.0%. Voter Registration Deadline: October 15, 2012 In-Person Absentee Voting: September 21-November 3, 2012 In person: 3,423,717 In person curbside: 15,071 Absentee: 447,907 Provisional: 10,151 Total: 3,896,846 |
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2012 Overview Virginia was a top-tier battleground state. Although Republicans saw encouraging signs in the outcomes of the 2009 and 2010 elections, the Obama-Biden ticket won the Commonwealth with a plurality of 149,298 votes (3.87 percentage points), carrying 35 counties and independent cities (18 and 27) to 89 (77 and 12) for Romney-Ryan. Looking at the results by CD, Romney won in CDs 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 and 10, while Obama carried 2, 3, 8 and 11. General Election Details Obama | Romney BALLOT [PDF] |
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| Voting Eligible
Population*: 5,500,265. VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 67.7%. Last day for voter registration: Oct. 6, 2008. Voter registration: 4,912,971 (active). 506,672 absentee ballots cast (13.5% of total vote) |
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2008 Overview Virginia was a full-fledged battleground state. The Obama-Biden ticket won with a plurality of 234,527 votes (6.29 percentage points), making Obama the first Democratic presidential candidate to prevail in the Commonwealth since 1964 (when LBJ won all but six states). Obama carried 6 congressional districts to 5 for McCain. General Election Details Obama/Allies | McCain/Allies | Nader |
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| Voting Eligible
Population*: 5,277,156. VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 60.6%. Voting in person: 3,001,097 Voting absentee: 222,059 (6.9%) Total voters: 3,223,156 Voter registration: 4,517,980. |
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2004 Overview Democrats put some resources into Virginia but saw no improvement in the outcome as Bush-Cheney amassed a plurality of 262,217 votes (8.20 percentage points). In terms of localities Bush won 102 (82 counties and 20 cities) and Kerry won 32 (13 counties and 19 cities). Bush prevailed in nine congressional districts, while Kerry won only the 3rd and 8th CDs. General Election Details |
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| Voting Eligible
Population*: 5,069,265. VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 54.0%. 2,789,808 total votes were cast for president -- 2,739,447 were counted. 50,361 (1.8%) were under or overvotes. Voter registration: 3,770,273 active. |
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2000
Overview A Democrat has not won Virginia in the presidential race since LBJ carried the state in 1964. That held true in 2000 as Bush-Cheney bested Gore-Lieberman with a plurality of 220,200 votes (8.03 percentage points). Bush won in eight of the state's congressional districts, while Gore won in three (3rd, 8th and 11th). |
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| Notes:
For an individual other than the nominees of the
Democratic and Republican parties to appear on the
general election ballot as a candidate for president
he or she must have submitted signatures of not less
than 10,000 qualified voters in Virginia, including
at least 400 qualified voters from each of
Virginia's 11 congressional districts, to the State
Board of Elections no later than noon August 25,
2000. |
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| Archive Pages: 2016 | 2012 | 2008 | 2004 | 2000 | 1992
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1996
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| Copyright © 2002-20 Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action. |
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