Fairfax County NAACP President Sean Perryman wasn’t planning to explore the possibility of running for public office earlier this year.

Pressing issues from the ongoing pandemic and Black Lives Matter Movement after police killed George Floyd inspired Perryman to explore jumping into Virginia’s lieutenant governor race.

“It was really born out of the crisis we are seeing,” Perryman said. “This was not something that was in the cards for me when I first started this year.”

Already familiar with how to elect local Democrats from his work for Virginia’s Democratic Party, Perryman said that the lieutenant governor position would give him the most leverage to advocate change.

In addition to his role as Fairfax County NAACP’s president, Perryman works for the Internet Association. Previously, he served as counsel for the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. He practiced civil litigation in Texas and D.C. after attending Vanderbilt University.

Current Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, a Democrat, is eyeing a run for governor in 2021. The election for Fairfax’s seat will be held next November.

So far, Del. Hala Ayala (D-51st) and Paul Goldman, the former chair of Virginia’s Democratic Party, and have announced they will vie for Fairfax’s seat. In addition to Perryman, Del. Elizabeth Guzman (D-31st) and Norfolk Councilmember Andria McClellan are considering running for the position.

Currently, Perryman said he is working with his team to figure out how they can best “serve Virginians” and that they haven’t set a date to officially announce his candidacy. Perryman shared with Tysons Reporter what some of his top issues are.

Perryman said that extending the eviction moratorium is one of his main priorities, noting that he’s already been advocating for the extension in Virginia with the NAACP since the pandemic started. 

“The federal government did not provide enough assistance to get people through this crisis and now I think, rather cruelly, allowing people to be evicted when all they did was adhere to what the government told them to do,” Perryman told Tysons Reporter.

Though the Virginia Supreme Court extended the eviction moratorium through early September, Perryman said this isn’t enough time for people to recover from the pandemic’s economic fallout.

“It really depends on how long it takes the federal government to get financial assistance to those people in need,” he said.

Allocation of the CARES Act funding, which allows states to extend unemployment benefits to independent contractors, is yet another area that needs work, according to Perryman. “Here in Virginia, what we can do better is the unemployment insurance that is available.”

People had to wait weeks for Virginia to sort out the delays with unemployment payments. Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 2.7 percent in January before skyrocketing in the spring due to the pandemic.

Perryman said that unemployment benefits should be more widely accessible for all kinds of workers as long as they can prove their income was interrupted by the pandemic.

Perryman attributed Virginia’s unemployment office being short-staffed — “It wasn’t up to par for what was coming” — as a reason for the delays and suggested that there is an opportunity to revamp the department and hire new people.

Right now, Perryman is focused on grassroots fundraising. He managed to raise over $80,000, all of which came from individuals — not corporations or political action committees — in the first 10 days of the campaign, Perryman tweeted.

“I’m relying on small-dollar donations from the community,” he said.

His next steps include meeting with community activists and elected officials. No matter what happens in the next few months, Perryman said it’s crucial that voters pay attention to state elections.

While voter fatigue is possible with the tensions around the upcoming elections this fall, Perryman said people need to think about the changes they want to see both locally and nationally.

“People understand we are in unprecedented times,” Perryman said. “None of us thought we’d be sanitizing our groceries, wearing masks and talking only via Zoom. We can’t give up or get tired. We have to essentially rebuild the society we are living in.”

THREAD: I’m excited to share that I’m exploring a run for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. Over the next few months, I’m looking forward to meeting with people across the Commonwealth to hear about the issues that are important to them.
https://t.co/IISMXItOhP

— Sean Perryman (@SeanPerrymanVA) July 27, 2020

Photo courtesy Sean Perryman

Updated 11:15 a.m. — Jonathan Shapiro, the president of Smith-Edwards-Dunlap Company, apologized in a statement, saying that the printing vendor is responsible for the “major error.”

“This mistake occurred because we incorrectly aligned a spreadsheet that matched the voter with their local election office,” Shapiro said, adding that CVI did not review the spreadsheet and that the printing vendor has taken steps to make sure mistakes are caught in the future. 

“This is not the level of work that SED and our partner, Quad Graphics, pride ourselves on. We have printed and mailed over 100 million vote-by-mail applications and voter registration applications without error and we are committed to the highest standards of quality control and excellence,” Shapiro said.

“In this mailing we fell far short of that goal. We apologize to CVI, to the staff at the affected local boards of election, and to the voters.”

Earlier: Be careful if you get a mailer from the Center for Voter Information, Fairfax County election officials say.

Fairfax County and City of Fairfax residents have been sharing on social media and to Tysons Reporter that they received the mailers from the Center for Voter Information, which have incorrect return addresses.

County officials are warning voters about the “inaccurate and potentially misleading mailing” that asks people to return them to the City of Fairfax.

The Center for Voter Information said in a statement that it is “working diligently” with local election officials to get the returned mailers to the correct addresses. Roughly 500,000 mailers included incorrect information, the voter registration group said.

“Mistakes in our programming are very rare, but we take them seriously, and our methods overall are extraordinarily effective,” the statement said, adding that it regrets “adding to any confusion” to voters as the November election nears.

“Please rest assured that we are working with local election officials in Virginia to re-direct the vote by mail applications to the proper locations, and will rectify any errors at our own expense,” the statement said.

The Virginia Department of Elections said that any applications that get sent to the wrong locality’s office will be sent to the correct office.

More from Fairfax County on the mailers:

This group is mass mailing pre-filled, absentee ballot applications to county voters without their request — and the mailer includes return envelopes to send the application to the City of Fairfax, not Fairfax County.

“This mailing is causing great confusion and concern among voters who have been contacting our office,” said Fairfax County General Registrar Gary Scott. “While the mailing may appear to be from an official government agency, the Fairfax County Office of Elections did not send it.”

The mailing is also confusing voters who have previously submitted absentee ballot applications themselves, Scott added. These voters are worried that their applications were not received, leading them to think they need to apply again.

Fairfax County is working with the City of Fairfax to ensure any applications received from the center’s inaccurate mailing will be processed by the county.

This is not the first time that mailers from the Center for Voter Information have confused Virginians.

The News Leader, a newspaper in Staunton, explained last year how organizations can obtain mailing addresses after the Center for Voter Information confused residents with a mailer about voter registration.

County election officials said that election information from the county will include a county seal on the envelope, along with the “Official Election Mail Authorized by the U. S. Postal Service” logo.

Fairfax County voters who want to return the Center for Voter Information applications should mail it to the Fairfax County Office of Elections (12000 Government Center Parkway Suite 323, Fairfax, VA 22035), Brian Worthy, a county spokesperson, said.

People who want to absentee vote by mail can apply online, which will allow them to track the status of their application, or vote in-person at 15 locations. Registered voters can expect their ballots to arrive after Sept. 18.

Photo by Element5 Digital/Unsplash, photo via mailer via Fairfax County

Many election officers in the county fall in high-risk categories for COVID-19.

The Fairfax County Office of Election is seeking more election officers this year to assist voters on Election Day, which is on Nov. 3.

The county is the largest voting jurisdictions in the state, with 243 precincts nationwide. Officers must be registered voters.

Training for new officers will begin online in September. Compensation begins at $175.

The application is available online. The deadline is Oct. 10 and mandatory online training must be completed by Oct. 14.

More information is available on the county’s website.

Yesterday, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved creating 14 voter satellite offices.

The voter satellite offices will serve absentee in-person voters.

“The advent of no-excuse absentee voting [in Virginia] for the November 2020 Presidential Election is expected to significantly increase the number of voters choosing to cast absentee ballots in person,” according to county staff.

County staff noted that the expected voter turnout for the upcoming presidential election is why they suggest an increased number of voter satellite offices, adding that the county had nine locations for the 2016 presidential election.

The Tysons-area voter satellite offices will include:

• McLean Governmental Center (1437 Balls Hill Road)
• Providence Community Center (3001 Vaden Drive)
• Providence Community Center (3001 Vaden Drive)
• Thomas Jefferson Library (7415 Arlington Blvd)
• Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library (7584 Leesburg Pike)

The voter satellite offices will be ready for the General Election on Nov. 3 and will be open from Oct. 14-31, according to county documents.

The locations would be open from 1-7 p.m. on weekdays and from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturdays.

In a record turnout, more than 35% of Vienna voters submitted ballots for yesterday’s election to select their next mayor and new councilmembers.

Current Councilmember Linda Colbert beat her two opponents — also both on the Town Council — for the mayor’s seat, according to the unofficial election results in the town’s press release.

Colbert was first elected to the council in 2014 after serving on the Transportation Safety Commission and a variety of other governmental and local councils, according to her town bio.

Her campaign focused on boosting the town’s commercial areas, preserving the neighborhoods and keeping Vienna a “vibrant walkable town protected from the Tysons sprawl.”

As for the other mayoral candidates, Howard Springsteen will stay on the council until his term expires in June 2021, while Pasha Majdi’s term expires at the end of June.

According to the unofficial results, Colbert received 1,545 votes, while Majdi got 1,172 and Springsteen got 869.

Voters chose three out of the seven candidates who vied for councilmember seats.

According to the unofficial election results:

• Ed Somers — 1,545
• Ray Brill, Jr. — 1,472
• Chuck Anderson — 1,420
• Andrea Dahl — 1,336
• Chris Wright — 1,265
• Roy Baldwin — 1,256
• David Patariu — 1,214

Majdi, Dahl, Wright and Patariu ran as a group on a joint platform focused on keeping Vienna’s small town feel and reducing congestion.

Originally set for May 5, Gov. Ralph Northam delayed the town’s election by two weeks due to concerns about spreading the coronavirus.

Voter turnout peaked at 36.5% — recent turnout has usually been between 5% and 23% for the town’s elections — and voters submitted 3,371 absentee ballots, according to Fairfax County’s Office of Elections.

“It was an historic election in Vienna,” the election office tweeted.

The new councilmembers and mayor will start serving July 1.

Colbert photo via Town of Vienna, three photos in collage courtesy Ed Somers, Ray Brill, Jr. and Chuck Anderson

The Town of Vienna’s election is underway, and voters have less than four hours to vote in-person or drop off their ballots.

As masked voters file into the Vienna Community Center or drive to the  Fairfax County Government Center to drop off their ballots in a special box, Tysons Reporter is exploring what civic duty looks like during a pandemic.

Voter turnout has typically fluctuated between 5% and 23% for the town’s elections for the last 20 years. But that may change this year.

“Traditionally, for municipal elections, it’s hard to get a good turnout,” Councilmember Howard Springsteen, who is running for the mayor’s seat, told Tysons Reporter.

Starting in March, Fairfax County officials took to social media to encourage Vienna voters to use the “disability or illness” box when requesting absentee ballots, hoping that mail-in ballots would decrease long lines for in-person voting.

The reminders worked. Vienna voters requested more than 3,200 absentee ballots, according to the town.

There are roughly 11,800 registered voters in the town, according to the state election department. If all of the absentee ballots are completed and submitted, that would put the voter turnout percentage around 27% — not including in-person voting.

“I think voter turnout will be higher than we’ve had in a while,” Mayor Laurie DiRocco told Tysons Reporter.

Signs of the times for voting in the time of a #pandemic. Voters will find these floor markers and signs at the polls in Vienna & Clifton today. Polls close at 7 p.m.#viennava #cliftonva #election2020 #covid_19 #COVID19 #socialdistancing #fairfaxcounty #virginia pic.twitter.com/Cw4wwP2LPr

— Fairfax County Votes (@fairfaxvotes) May 19, 2020

Voters weren’t the only ones urged to do their civic duty by voting from home.

DiRocco, who is retiring when her term ends this June, told Tysons Reporter on Friday that she asked all of the candidates to stay away from the Vienna Community Center today (Tuesday) to reduce the risk of spreading the virus.

In previous years, it has been “very much of a social gathering,” according to DiRocco, who added that people would bring picnics and socialize with one another outside of the 40-foot distance line as people prepared to vote.

“I had reached out to the candidates and recommend we do not show up at the election,” DiRocco said. “All of the candidates agreed to that, which I thought was really good.”

But DiRocco sounded frustrated when she told Tysons Reporter that she received messages from people this morning “who were a little nervous” because they spotted mayoral candidate Pasha Majdi outside the Vienna Community Center.

“I don’t know what else to say at this point,” DiRocco said, stressing that it’s important to respect public health and safety concerns for voters.

Majdi told Tysons Reporter that he was about 300 feet away from the community center — “I could not throw a football from across the street.”

“We thought it would be a nice gesture to thank people for voting by waving from across the street, several hundred feet [away] from the polls,” he said.

The decision of whether or not to stand outside the polling place was never a dilemma before the pandemic, and it is not the only issue that candidates recently faced as Northern Virginia’s coronavirus numbers continue to rise.

Many of the candidates responded to Tysons Reporter’s inquiry about how the pandemic changed their campaign strategy, saying that social media has played a larger role in getting their messages out.

“My team of supporters and I had to change the game plan,” mayoral candidate and current Councilmember Linda Colbert said.

Colbert said that she started her campaign this year with the goal of getting to “every house in Vienna.” Instead, she ended up writing a letter to every resident instead.

Traditional face-to-face methods of interacting with voters — going door-to-door, attending events and handing out campaign literature — are moot while social distancing guidelines and the stay-at-home order are in effect.

“Voters in Vienna appreciate it when candidates knock on their doors and take a few minutes to answer questions before leaving a pamphlet,” Roy Baldwin, a councilmember candidate, said. “Since early March, none of that has been possible — the last thing I would want to do would be to either pick up or unwittingly spread the coronavirus by such close contact.”

Baldwin said that this campaign is “certainly nothing” like the one he ran in 2016.

“I’ve gone to the phone a lot more, and to email, text messages, and Facebook posts, as well as traditional mailers and print ads,” he said, adding that he’s even done Zoom conferences.

Ray Brill Jr., a councilmember candidate who said face-to-face “was to be the cornerstone of my campaign,” said that he pivoted to social media, word-of-mouth, signs and mailings to reach voters.

Brill also said that sharing his message through candidate essays, like he did for Tysons Reporter, “gave voters the opportunity to compare and contrast each candidate’s position on key issues facing the Town of Vienna so they could make an informed decision before they voted.”

Brill isn’t the only candidate missing in-person communication.

“I much prefer face-to-face. I don’t think you have a dialogue with people on social media,” Springsteen, who is running for the mayor’s seat, told Tysons Reporter. “I don’t get a lot of feedback [from voters].”

He said that he’s relied on boosting Facebook posts and sent out two mailings — a letter and a postcard — this year, adding that he’s put out fewer yard signs to reduce in-person contact.

While he said he’s “getting a lot of hits on my website,” he said that posting online can feel like putting a message out into a void.

Limited traditional campaigning tactics have forced some candidates to get creative.

“I have no idea if it will translate into votes, but my daily bike rides with the Choose Chuck velocipede has at least brought smiles to people’s faces,” councilmember candidate Chuck Anderson said.

Anderson noted that he keeps “at least 20 feet” away from people while on his bike rides down the middle of the street.

“With a number of neighbors strolling the streets, I have been able to get my name out, at least, to a large number of voters,” he said.

Colbert, a mayoral candidate, turned to daily videos.

“One day I posted a video expressing my concerns for town residents and businesses,” Colbert said. “After receiving positive feedback, I did it another day until I was doing it every day.”

Some of the biggest COVID-19 challenges have impacted the candidates’ jobs more than their campaigns.

“My day job is dealing with the coronavirus,” councilmember candidate Ed Somers said. “So I’m certainly busier in my day job… I think the challenge is the balance of doing what I need to do for work and doing the outreach I need to do for the campaign.”

Majdi shared a similar sentiment, saying that he shifted his focus away from the campaign more to his duties as a current councilmember.

“Campaigning has taken a back seat to the COVID-19 response,” Majdi said. “The top priority is public health and safety.”

Still, Majdi is talking to voters over the phone, and Somers is relying on his network to vouch for him.

“I’ve found [the campaign] to be a good experience,” Somers said, adding that he thinks online communication has “made us more authentic… [since] we’re going more off our instincts.”

Photo via Fairfax County Votes/Twitter

Ashley Hopko contributed to this story, photo (2) courtesy Chuck Anderson

Vienna Election Day — Today, voters will pick the new councilmembers and mayor. Here’s our guide to who the candidates are and how to find out more about them. [Tysons Reporter]

Helping Hand — The McLean Little League and the Deevy Group at Compass will deliver food to Inova’s ICU and ER departments today at 6:30 p.m. [Patch]

Some Shoppers Spotted at Tysons Corner Center — “A few stores, such as Kay Jewelers, Forever 21 and Altar’d State, were open. According to Northern Virginia resident Dorothy Gundy, who provided the photos to WTOP, stores were asking shoppers to line up in the concourse and letting a few people in at a time.” [WTOP]

Units on scene of a townhouse fire in the 1600 block of Colonial Hills Drive in the McLean area. First arriving reported smoke showing from rear of home. Fire found on deck. Fire is out. No extension to home. Most units returning to service. #FCFRD pic.twitter.com/qGEmlfoETc

— Fairfax County Fire/Rescue (@ffxfirerescue) May 19, 2020

The polls are open until 7 p.m. tonight for the Clifton and Vienna town elections. Please practice #socialdistancing when you go #vote today to keep yourself, others and our dedicated election officers safe!#GOTV #electionday #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/4A3HPYqPpT

— Fairfax County Votes (@fairfaxvotes) May 19, 2020

Polling Patience — “[T]hose who will be voting in person at the Vienna Community Center will have to jump through a few more hoops and will not have the chance to mingle with the candidates on-site. Voters should be patient expect a slower-than-normal process, election officials said. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.” [Inside NoVa]

Summer School — “Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) will continue distance learning for students during the summer along with targeted intervention services. Virtual learning for students this summer is based on current Fairfax County Health Department guidelines for social distancing and guidance from the state that school buildings remain closed in July.” [FCPS]

State Data No Longer Includes Antibody Tests — “On Thursday, the Virginia Department of Health announced they would no longer include the results of antibody tests in their overall data, though officials stressed that its inclusion did not significantly alter the trends that aided the governor in making the decision to reopen. About 15,000 antibody tests had been included, making up about nine percent of the overall testing number.” [DCist]

Public Libraries to Soon Offer New Services — “FCPL is preparing to begin offering contactless pickup of holds or staff selections on Monday, June 1.” [FCPL/Facebook]

Ahead of the Town of Vienna’s election, Tysons Reporter asked the candidates to answer the following questions and also submit a short biography. Each candidate had an opportunity to answer the same questions in their own words. We are publishing the Q&As in the order we received the responses. 

Featured here is Andrea Dahl, who is running for a position on the Vienna Town Council. 

Bio: I’m Andrea Dahl and I’m running for Town Council because I believe I can make a positive impact. As an energetic mom and community volunteer with 20 years of corporate experience, it’s always my mission to come up with creative ways to do things better, for less money.

Nearby, Tysons is urbanizing. How do you think the Town of Vienna’s identity should change in response to Tysons’ growth?

I recognize that growth is inevitable and welcome much of it. However, I think that we can do a better job managing it to preserve our small-town feel and strengthen our sense of community. New growth needs to include comprehensive planning, looking at the full impact on our roads and class sizes, but also protecting the overall quality of life of our current residents. What is right for Tysons is not necessarily right for our town nor what most residents of Vienna want.

I don’t think we need another storage area in the heart of historic downtown Vienna, but there seems to be some consensus that residents would like a vibrant downtown filled with more mom and pop restaurants, taverns, outdoor cafes, galleries, and unique shops where residents can safely walk and bike around. These small businesses help differentiate our town from Tysons and would be welcomed by most residents.

Prior to this pandemic, I supported the town making strategic land acquisitions as key property becomes available because I recognize that land in the town is finite. In my opinion, the purchase of commercial property to create the Town Green was one of the best decisions ever made by the Town. Given today’s environment, we will need to look at the full impact of this pandemic on our economy and the residents and businesses within our town before moving forward with any discretionary expenditures.

What are your solutions to Maple Avenue congestion and cut-thru traffic in neighborhoods?

Maple Avenue is already at capacity when it comes to traffic. This means that any extra traffic from Maple Avenue spills over to our residential streets. While I’m not opposed to development on Maple Avenue, I think that any future development has to make sense taking into consideration the full impact on our roads, schools, and town services. To ease cut-thru traffic and slow vehicle speeds, I support installing traffic calming measures like speed humps, speed cushions, and realigned intersections.

It would make sense for the town to work with Dominion Power to install sidewalks on certain streets at the same time that Dominion Power is burying their lines. This collaboration will save the town money and make our neighborhood streets safer, prettier, and our power service more reliable. This also helps many local home builders because Dominion Power is absorbing the cost to bury our power lines instead of developers paying to do this with any new construction.

Roundabouts at select intersections, flashing lights for pedestrians to cross busy intersections as well as adding trees and vegetation next to busy roadways are other options we can use to effectively slow traffic and make our roads safer.

Additionally, I support working with local sports leagues to minimize practices that require driving children to school practices across town, especially at the elementary school level.

Should Vienna keep its “small town feel”? If so, how? If not, why and what do you propose?

According to the Collins Dictionary, “small town is used when referring to small places… where people are friendly, honest, and polite.” Small towns tend to have their own special characteristics. Since people tend to know one another and look out for each other, people living in small towns often feel safer and happier. This has never been more evident than now.

During this pandemic, I have seen all kinds of people in our town step up to help others in so many creative ways that I am proud to call Vienna home. In my opinion, the Town of Vienna is a type of oasis in the middle of the Northern Virginia sprawl. Its close knit community is what gives Vienna its small town feel and we should want to preserve that.

To best keep Vienna’s small town feel, we should continue to do things that promote building a strong sense of community as this is what differentiates Vienna from neighboring areas. Community events like the annual Halloween Parade and the Church Street Holiday Stroll are favorites that everyone looks forward to.

At a minimal cost, Vienna could offer additional events like weekly summer outdoor movies, indoor winter movies at the Community Center for kids and seniors, more concerts on the Town Green, and even a Dog Jog & Walk fundraiser to further strengthen our sense of community.

Vienna has a long history of being named a “Tree City USA.” What steps would you like to see Vienna take to become greener and more sustainable/environmentally-friendly?

I am very passionate about preserving our parks, trees, and green space. I would like to strengthen our town’s involvement in the “Tree City USA” Program by displaying a higher level of commitment to urban forestry.

With all the new construction, we’re losing our big old trees at an alarming pace. Often homeowners are forced to spend thousands of dollars to cut down their trees that have died primarily as a result of new construction bordering their property. Last fall, the town arborist shared with me that this is happening all over Vienna.

Our residents and our trees should be better protected. We need to develop and implement a town tree policy that replaces trees that die. Residential lot coverage requirements should remain at 25% to promote green space. We need to encourage more open space, green space, and setback requirements on all new commercial projects.

Additionally, I have a background developing and implementing recycling programs with companies nationwide which I plan to use to improve recycling in our town. We can do a better job educating our residents on what is recyclable and what is not. With China no longer taking our trash, the reality is that many recyclables are landfilled if there’s no market for them or if they’re too contaminated. We can do better.

What do you want to see happen for parking at Parking Henry Library?

I believe that these are two separate issues. Our town desperately needs a parking garage which ideally should be somewhere on Maple Avenue close enough to the Town Green and W&OD Trail. A new parking garage would eliminate the overflow parking and congestion on our neighborhood roads every time there is a community event downtown.

We also need a complete renovation of our existing Patrick Henry Library. It is too small and does not meet the needs of our community. When my children were in preschool, I would actually drive to Great Falls for programs offered at their local library because our Vienna library could not offer similar programs due to space limitations. Sadly, we are lucky if we visit the Patrick Henry Library here in Vienna more than a couple times each year.

What are your ideal height and building sizes for developments in the Maple Avenue Ordinance?

I support limiting our height and building sizes on Maple Avenue to three stories since Maple Avenue is already at capacity for traffic and any excess traffic spills over on to our neighborhood roads negatively impacting our residents. Where possible, I encourage site modifications and repurposing existing buildings rather than replacing them similar to what has been done with the new Bear Branch Tavern. I support enforcing setback requirements on Maple Avenue and adding green space for beautification and to slow traffic.

One of my greatest concerns is what will become of the Giant-anchored shopping center in Vienna. Around northern Virginia we are seeing large, mixed-use developments with hundreds of expensive apartments like the new Scout on the Circle project at the corner of Route 50 and Route 29. This type of development lacks setbacks, green space, and doesn’t fit our small town. Under no circumstances do I want to see anything similar where our Giant currently sits.

I support rewriting commercial codes to make them easier for everyone to understand. I also support developing a vision for future development on Maple Avenue to preserve how we want Vienna to look in the years to come.

When I worked in Michigan, I frequently represented my franchisees at town planning meetings to get approval for construction projects including signs advertising their businesses. Vienna needs to develop a vision with resident input for our commercial development to set the framework for how we should move forward.

People interested in learning more about Dahl’s campaign can check out her website.

Photo courtesy Andrea Dahl

Fairfax County is “urgently” looking for people to help out at the polls for the primary on June 23.

While the county is strongly encouraging voters to absentee vote by mail for this election, election officers are still needed — especially bilingual people in Falls Church who speak Korean or Vietnamese, the county says. Bilingual speakers are also needed in Annandale and Centreville.

The county has taken to social media to find at least 200 election officers for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives primary.

More from the county on measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus at the polls:

To protect election officers and voters, the Office of Elections will take precautions that include:

• Providing face coverings, gloves and hand sanitizer for every election officer.
• Limiting the number of voters in the room at the same time.
• Requiring voters to maintain a social distance of six feet from each other and election officers.

Election officers help to set up voting equipment, check photo IDs, provide assistance to voters and tabulate results.

People who are registered to vote in Virginia can sign up online by next Friday, May 15, and can choose to volunteer their time or earn at least $175.

We need you on June 23! We're urgently seeking at least 200 election officers for this primary election. Apply online by May 15: https://t.co/nA2EWK3Jlh Officers will be given face coverings and gloves. Learn more: https://t.co/07m5Apycio pic.twitter.com/ibCGlykbb3

— Fairfax County Votes (@fairfaxvotes) May 6, 2020