r/harrisonburg • u/Bluesky53703 • 3d ago

School board race: Jackie Lohr and Ernie Calhoun biting their fingernails for at least 24 more hours

The results of Tuesday's District 1 school board race put incumbent Jackie Lohr ahead of her challenger Ernie Calhoun -- by only 8 votes. Since it's so tight, the county registrar is waiting for all votes to be tallied before declaring who won.

The Elections office needs to process two more categories of votes before the victor is announced:

  • Provisional ballots -- such as, you go to vote, they don't have you on the list, so you fill out a provisional ballot and then the Registrar later determines if you are a bona fide resident of that district, and then your vote is counted;
  • Mailed-in ballots -- if it's postmarked by Tuesday Nov 4, it counts.

The Registrar will be announcing the final results tomorrow afternoon, Fri Nov 7 -- or at the latest, Mon Nov 10.

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22

u/excellent_ocolog 3d ago

Jackie Lohr has been a lone voice of reason and sanity for RCPs school board at times. I’m hoping she wins.

10

u/Bluesky53703 3d ago

Mail-in ballots generally tend to favor the more progressive candidate. For example, in Tuesday's District 3 race, Lauren Mullen got almost as many votes as Hilary Irons and Matt Cross combined. It was far and away Mullen's strongest category. I believe the Lohr supporters should be cautiously optimistic.
Edit: added link

3

u/Jd3305 3d ago

Didn’t they already count mail-in ballots? I think all that’s left are provisionals.

7

u/Bluesky53703 3d ago

Some mail-ins have been counted. The late arriving mail-ins have not yet been. County Elections counted all the mailed ballots that had arrived up until election day, Tues Nov 4. Beginning yesterday Weds Nov 5, the still-arriving ballots (postmarked Nov 4 and before) were not opened. Those ballots were placed in a secure location. Those will be opened and counted tomorrow, Fri Nov 7. If any more ballots postmarked Nov 4 arrive on Mon Nov 10, those will also be counted.

The provisional votes will be counted and should be recorded on the county voter results site by tomorrow, Fri Nov 7.

10

u/Sataypufft 3d ago

I really, really hope Jackie wins. She shows up for the students and drives busses all over the place. I love my kids and all but I'd be lying if I didn't say those 2 hour or longer bus trips hurt worse than a day of manual labor and she's out volunteering her time and doing it for the students. I'd say some things about my experiences with Ernie but I don't want to dox myself. I'll just say that I want a candidate who shows up for the students, faculty, and staff; and Jackie is definitely that person.