Herndon Election Results: Polls Are Now Closed

Michael O'Connell
Updated ·9 min read

HERNDON, VA — Herndon residents went to the polls on Tuesday to cast their vote in a number of races — both national and local.

Polls closed in Herndon at 7 p.m., and all that's left to do is count the votes and tally the results. Patch will be updating this article throughout the night with the latest vote totals.

With about an hour before the polls closed at the Herndon Community Center, Samiha Gdoura made it out to vote. Although she was aware that she could've voted early, she wanted to vote on Tuesday.

"We want to choose the right person for the presidency," Samiha Gdoura of Herndon said. "It matters for all of us here and for the world."

Jasmine Pierson of Herndon took a more pragmatic approach to her decision to vote.

"I think our president is not doing a great job, and I'd like to make a change," she said. "Neither of them is a great candidate, but I guess we can settle for the lesser of the two horribles, at least for me in my situation. They're both terrible."

This year, Herndon voters will decide on races for president and vice president, U.S. House and U.S. Senate as well as state constitutional amendments, Fairfax County bond questions, and the Herndon Mayor and Town Council members.

Unofficial Results

President and Vice President

  • Joseph R. Biden, President and Kamala D. Harris, Vice President - Democrat

  • Donald J. Trump, President and Michael R. Pence, Vice President - Republican

  • Jo Jorgensen, President and Jeremy F. "Spike" Cohen, Vice President - Libertarian

Member, United States Senate

  • Mark R. Warner - Democrat

  • Daniel M. Gade - Republican

Member House of Representatives, 11th District

  • Gerry E. "Gerry" Connolly - Democrat

  • Manga A. Anantatmula - Republican

Herndon Mayor

  • Sheila A. Olem

  • Roland B. Taylor

Town Council

  • Naila Alam

  • Cesar A. del Aguila

  • Pradip Dhakal

  • Signe V. Friedrichs

  • Clark A. Hedrick

  • Stevan M. Porter

  • Sean M. Regan

  • Jasbinder Singh

Constitutional Amendment #1

Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to establish a redistricting commission, consisting of eight members of the General Assembly and eight citizens of the Commonwealth, that is responsible for drawing the congressional and state legislative districts that will be subsequently voted on, but not changed by, the General Assembly and enacted without the Governor's involvement and to give the responsibility of drawing districts to the Supreme Court of Virginia if the redistricting commission fails to draw districts or the General Assembly fails to enact districts by certain deadlines?

Constitutional Amendment #2

Should an automobile or pickup truck that is owned and used primarily by or for a veteran of the United States armed forces or the Virginia National Guard who has a one hundred percent service connected, permanent, and total disability be free from state and local taxation?

Public library bonds

Shall Fairfax County, Virginia, contract a debt, borrow money, and issue bonds in addition to the public library facilities bonds previously authorized, in the maximum aggregate principal amount of $90,000,000 for the purpose of providing funds, with any other available funds, to finance the cost to provide public library facilities, including the construction, reconstruction, enlargement, and equipment of existing and additional library facilities and the acquisition of necessary land?

Transportation bonds

Shall Fairfax County, Virginia, contract a debt, borrow money, and issue bonds, in addition to the transportation improvements and facilities bonds previously authorized, in the maximum aggregate principal amount of $160,000,000 for the purpose of financing Fairfax County's share, under the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Compact, of the cost of constructing, reconstructing, improving, and acquiring transportation improvements and facilities, including capital costs of land, transit facilities, rolling stock, and equipment in the Washington metropolitan area?

Community health and human services bonds

Shall Fairfax County, Virginia, contract a debt, borrow money, and issue bonds, in addition to the human services facilities bonds previously authorized, in the maximum aggregate principal amount of $79,000,000 for the purpose of providing funds, with any other available funds, to finance the cost to provide community health and human services facilities, including the construction, reconstruction, enlargement, and equipment of existing and additional community health and human services facilities and the acquisition of necessary land?

Parks and parks facilities bonds

Shall Fairfax County, Virginia, contract a debt, borrow money, and issue bonds, in addition to the parks and park facilities bonds previously authorized, in the maximum aggregate principal amount of $112,000,000 for the following purposes: (i) $100,000,000 principal amount to finance the Fairfax County Park Authority's cost to acquire, construct, reconstruct, develop, and equip additional parks and park facilities, to preserve open-space land, and to develop and improve existing parks and park facilities; and (ii) $12,000,000 principal amount to finance Fairfax County's contribution to the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority to acquire, construct, reconstruct, develop, and equip parks and park facilities?

Virginians are expected to choose former Vice President Joe Biden (D) over President Donald Trump by a wide margin, according to a recent poll by FiveThirtyEight. In addition, incumbent Sen. Mark Warner (D) is expected to beat challenger Daniel M. Gade (R).

In the Herndon mayor's race, current Vice Mayor Sheila A. Olem is running agains Roland B. Taylor. The race for the Herndon Town Council boasts eight candidates: Naila Alam, Cesar A. del Aguila, Pradip Dhakal, Signe V. Friedrichs, Clark A. Hedrick, Stevan M. Porter, Sean M. Regan, Jasbinder Singh

Amid concerns about possible exposure to the new coronavirus, many Herndon voters have already cast absentee ballots or voted at one of the early voting centers around the county. Early voting ended on Oct. 31.

Absentee ballots may also be returned at any polling place on Election Day (Tuesday, Nov. 3) from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. If you are returning the ballot by-mail, it must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by the office by noon on the third day after the election (Nov. 6).

Return to Patch for tonight's local election results: Subscribe to free News Alerts.

For those voting in person on Nov. 3, you can check your polling place on the Virginia Department of Elections website.

An acceptable form of identification is required to vote in person, but it no longer has to be a photo ID. Examples of accepted IDs include a Virginia driver's license or DMV-issued photo ID, U.S. passport, and copy of a utility bill, paycheck or other government document showing the voter's address.

Mail ballots may arrive between Nov. 3 and Virginia’s deadline of Nov. 6, so it will be at least the end of the week before all ballots are tallied.

Read Patch's full voters guide for the Town of Herndon.

While much of the focus of the 2020 election coverage has been on the presidential race, there are a number of issues affecting Herndon residents that candidates running for office have been highlighting. Chief among these have been the economic impact of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

In the mayor's race, Taylor pointed to the negative impacts on the economy from the coronavirus pandemic as the most pressing issue facing Herndon.

"We know after COVID-19, many business models will change," he said. "Office space may reduce, lowering commuters, and impact lunch traffic. These and others will reduce taxes paid and Town revenues."

Until a cure or vaccine is found to the virus, the goal of Herndon's leaders must be the health and safety of its citizens and staff, according to Olem.

"As elected officials we legislate, and we are extremely fortunate to to have professional, dedicated staff taking care of the day to day business of running our town, including helping our businesses adjust to the new norms, keeping our trash picked up, managing our current projects and keeping our town safe," she said. "Our management team has done an excellent job in the last several years keeping our finances in order so our core services have been able to continue during this time of uncertainty."

In the Town Council race, Hedrick also identified the impact of the coronavirus as the biggest challenge facing Herndon.

"Due to uncertain revenue projects, the Town must exercise extreme budget discipline and fiscal restraint in order to maintain service standards and town personnel," he said. "The Council must find long-term efficiencies in order to stabilize the budget and make required investments to relieve stress on the Town's infrastructure."

Friedrichs agreed the single most pressing issue facing Herndon is recovery from the pandemic.

"At this point, cut spending (already in progress), try not to cut staff because of the cascading social and economic implications for us and them, help business by suspending regulations that do not affect the safety of the Town in the short term," she said. "As a last resort, cutting staff and/or raising usage fees such as water or refuse removal."

Porter laid out three approaches to addressing the financial recovery and adjustments due to the pandemic, which he considered the greatest issue facing the Town.

"There are three primary things we will need to do about it. 1) Carefully examine spending priorities and what services the community truly wants the Town to provide. 2) Determine how to fund those services. This needs to include both tax strategies (significantly raising taxes in this economony would be counter productive) and also looking at innovative ways to better involve residents, businesses, and organizations in solutions. 3) Developing plans to help mitigate the impact of any future events."

For de Aguila, his approach to addressing the impact of the coronavirus would be to help prioritize cuts and find new sources of revenue.

Regan identified the primary issue facing Herndon was to maintain town services and public safety during the pandemic.

But not all Town Council candidates saw the pandemic and its effects as the biggest issue facing Herndon.

Alam identified affordable housing for underserved families as the most pressing issue facing town residents.

"There is a large number of immigrants who consider Herndon their home," she said. "They work for the benefit of the Town and neighborhoods. It's important that their American dream should be fulfilled."

Singh pointed to greater transparency in government and issues relating to downtown development as the issue that concerned him most. He also called for a reverse of the anti-transparency policies of the last eight years.

All candidates running in Herndon were invited to fill out a candidate questionnaire:

Herndon Mayor

Herndon Town Council

Visit the Virginia Department of Elections website to access election results.

This article originally appeared on the Herndon Patch