WOODBRIDGE, Va. — Woodbridge’s elected leader Frank Principi is unhappy that some of the last votes cast in his district were at 10:45 p.m. Tuesday night.
Long lines and wait times of up to five hours at Potomac Middle School in the River Oaks Precinct, with only a handful polling machines processing about 30 voters per has now prompted a local town hall meeting, and a call from Democrats to investigate what went wrong.
Principi will hold a town hall meeting in the coming weeks and invite residents, county officials, and members of the Prince William Electoral Board, according to a statement released to the press Thursday afternoon.
Principi on Tuesday blamed Prince William County Executive Melissa Peacor for denying a request for $350,000 earlier this year for additional voting machines.
But in another statement Thursday, the Electoral Board countered Principi and said while they regret the long lines at polling places throughout Prince William County, all available voting machines were in use, and the Electoral Board is fully funded.
“We would like to make clear the Office of Voter Registration and Elections has been fully funded by the Board of County Supervisors. No budget requests have been denied by the Board of County Supervisors,” the Board stated.
It further stated elected officials in the county have always been supportive of the Electoral Board.
In Fall 2011, the Electoral Board was poised to request $350,000 for election expenses. However, during the budget process earlier this year requested just $46,000 for the Presidential Election, said county spokesman Jason Grant. Those funds were awarded, he added.
The Electoral Board also asked for $120,000 to assist in reconciling voting districts following the 2010 decennial redistricting process, however, that went unfunded by the Virginia General Assembly in Richmond.
No date for Principi’s town hall meeting has been announced.
