Virginia: A Swing State

The polls in Virginia closed at 7 p.m, on Tuesday, one of the earliest times to close in the nation. The Braddock District in Fairfax County opened at 6 a.m. and was open until 7 p.m. But volunteers arrived at the polls as early as 4 a.m.! A volunteer told me that the Braddock District voting location opened on time to eager voters.

Here in Virginia, it was an ideal day to vote. It was sunny outside, pretty chilly, but the sun was warm. Many people swarmed to get in line. The Signal Hill precinct voting was held in Lake Braddock Secondary School. The school’s parking lot was full, and had a good stream of cars coming throughout the day.

In 2008, President Obama won the electoral votes from Virginia. Virginia also has many electoral votes, so it is an important state. As of 9 p.m., it is too early for anyone to really predict how Virginia will turn out.

In Virginia, the northern counties are the most important of the state. These counties have significantly more of the population than the more southern counties. In 2008, if you looked at an electoral map, John McCain won more counties than Obama. But Virginia went Democratic because Obama secured those more populated counties. So it is crucial for either candidate to win over those northern counties, like Fairfax, to take the vote for the whole of Virginia.

Right now, at 9:30, there are only 10% of the votes in for Fairfax County. Fairfax County is a highly populated county at 1 million people. Last election, this county voted Democratic. But now it’s hard to tell. Even CNN’s coverage of predictions skipped Virginia because they couldn’t predict anything. The state of Virginia as a whole is a toss-up. No matter who wins this election, it’s going to be close.

—Kid Reporter Abby Sacks

Hurricane Sandy spares northern Virginia

News about Hurricane Sandy, also called “The Perfect Storm” or “Frankenstorm,” has spread through the country as fast as lightning.

When Sandy first started in the Caribbean, it was a tropical storm.  In a matter of days it was upgraded to hurricane status, with winds up to 75 m.p.h. (miles per hour). Sandy was supposed to impact every state on the east coast, and experts predicted Hurricane Sandy would be wider and stronger than last year’s Hurricane Irene.

To prepare for the “FrankenStorm” people rushed to grocery stores, hardware stores, and anywhere else they needed to go.  In some stores, the shelves were close to or completely bare.  People prepared for the storm by doing everything from buying extra toilet paper to charging electronics to taking down Halloween decorations.   In West Virginia, the hurricane brought a lot of snow. In Virginia, it's rain. And in Delaware, residents are told to evacuate the state entirely.

Here in Virginia, Hurricane Sandy caused delays and cancellations for many schools. The entire Fairfax County Public School system was cancelled for two days - Monday, October 29, and the following Tuesday. No one went to work, either, except essential workers like emergency services personnel.

I spoke to Amy Sung-Concannon, the mom to a family with four kids living in Old Burke, about the storm.  To prepare for the storm, she pre-cooked about enough food to last two days.  Amy and her kids made a little storm shelter for their outdoor cat, and they all slept in the living room, the safest room in their house.  She even bought a generator.

It turns out that they didn’t need a generator — not one household in Old Burke lost power. Amy was expecting to lose power for about five days because they have a lot of trees that could knock into the power lines and because it happens frequently here, even in small storms.  She also thought that the winds from the storm would knock trees over, or at least make large limbs fall.  But that didn’t happen, either.  The only thing that Hurricane Sandy caused was a small amount flooding in her basement. 

Schools closed, workers stayed home, people flocked to the supermarkets, and all for a storm that they thought would be huge.  But it wasn’t.  All it did was cause rain and wind.  Maybe because here in Fairfax, Virginia, we’re nowhere near a coast. Or maybe we were just lucky.  We do know that Hurricane Sandy caused a lot of damage elsewhere, so instead of being upset that you went out bought a ton of bread for nothing, here in northern Virginia, residents are thankful.

—Kid Reporter Abby Sacks