Falls Church Teens Represent Good Numbers at the Polls

With Election Day coming up on Nov. 6, the city’s Office of Voter Registration & Elections are expecting to see an increase in registration.

David Bjerke, general registrar of voters in the City of Falls Church, said over the next three weeks he expects unregistered voters to make their way to his City Hall office and rush to the Internet to make sure they’re registered. About 9,200 city residents are already registered, he said.

A rush of teens may be amongst the rush of unregistered potential voters, Bjerke said. Bjerke said traditionally, teens in the city are well represented at the polls.

“I'm inclined to think that their rate has increased at the same level that the general population has increased as there is more attention paid to voter registration right now especially with the increase in third party voter registration drives,” Bjerke said. “But the teen registration rate in the City of Falls Church has been historically high so it's possible that the rate is only slightly above average this year if not noticeably above average.”

Unregistered voters have until 5 p.m. on Oct. 15 to submit their registration application. In-person absentee voting started Sept. 21 and will run through Nov. 3. In-person absentee ballots can be cast Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on both Saturdays preceding the election, Oct. 27 and Nov. 3.

It wasn’t long after he turned 18 in January before Dimitri Venets registered to vote. The city resident said he was excited then to register and even more excited to vote in November. The Northern Virginia Community College freshman said he’s a bit shaky on who he wants to vote for but is leaning toward Republican candidate Mitt Romney.

Venets said he has done his own research outside viewing political commercials and is looking forward to voting for the first time.

“People fought for that freedom to vote and now I have the opportunity to do so,” Venets said.

Voter registration applications may be found online at the Virginia State Board of Elections website (http://www.sbe.virginia.gov), in the city’s registrar’s office, and most libraries.

Additional details about voting in the City of Falls Church, including a voter ward map, can be found online at http://www.fallschurchva.gov/Vote. Contact the Registrar's office at 703-248-5085 (TTY 711) or vote@fallschurchva.gov for more information.