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Voting matters in local elections: What was the turnout for Election 2022?

Rebecca Barnabi
your vote matters
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Virginia has 6,037,832 registered voters.

According to Staunton General Registrar Christi Linhoss, 50 percent of voters in the Queen City turned up at the polls November 8. She said she has heard from other districts that they had similar turnout.

Waynesboro’s Registrar Lisa Jeffers said it’s difficult to compare turnout for the last few elections because the city has not gone through a full four years yet of early voting and same day registration, additional voting options which affect the total turnout.

Jeffers said last Tuesday’s turnout in Waynesboro was lower than in 2018.

In Waynesboro’s Ward D City Council race, the vote between incumbent Sam Hostetter and Republican Jim Wood was close enough to warrant a close count the following week of all mail-in and absentee ballots. Wood won by 17 votes.

In Waynesboro’s Ward D School Board race, incumbent Kathy Maneval lost to Amber Lipscomb by 124 votes. Lipscomb received nearly 53 percent of votes, while Maneval received 47 percent.

Rebecca Barnabi

Rebecca Barnabi

Rebecca J. Barnabi is the national editor of Augusta Free Press. A graduate of the University of Mary Washington, she began her journalism career at The Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star. In 2013, she was awarded first place for feature writing in the Maryland, Delaware, District of Columbia Awards Program, and was honored by the Virginia School Boards Association’s 2019 Media Honor Roll Program for her coverage of Waynesboro Schools. Her background in newspapers includes writing about features, local government, education and the arts.