GAR-FIELD FOOTBALL WINS SIXTH STRAIGHT: Coverage on Page 10-11.
October 30, 2019 | Vol. 18, No. 44 | www.princewilliamtimes.com | 50¢ Covering Prince William County and surrounding communities, including Gainesville, Haymarket, Dumfries, Occoquan, Quantico and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.
Cash bail splits top prosecutor candidates May, Ashworth on keeping poor defendants locked up By Daniel Berti
Times Staff Writer
On Nov. 5, Prince William voters will replace the county’s top prosecutor for the first time in 52 years, as Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Ebert
All eyes on turnout
is not seeking re-election. The two candidates vying to take his place -- Democrat Amy Ashworth and Republican Mike May – hold different positions on an issue at the forefront of criminal justice reform: the use of cash bail. Ashworth has said she would limit the use of cash bail and hinted she would do away with it altogether because the practice disproportionately impacts poor defendants and
defendants of color. Those who can’t afford to post bail, which is typically set in the thousands of dollars, have to stay in jail until their trial date while those who can afford to pay the amount are released. “The cash bond system has been shown to unfairly impact poor people and people of color, and that’s not a justice system. It is difficult to justify the use of cash bond when you
Mike May (R)
Amy Ashworth (D)
look at the facts that surround that,” Ashworth said in an Oct. 16 forum sponsored by the NAACP and the Virginia Interfaith Center. See PROSECUTOR, page 2
Turnout usually tanks in ‘off-off-year’ elections. Will 2019 be different?
By Daniel Berti and Jill Palermo Times Staff Writers
A surge in voter turnout in 2017 helped Democrats win six of the county’s seven House of Delegates seats in an “off-year” gubernatorial election. But in “off-off-year elections,” when only state and local seats are on the ballot, voter turnout is typically much lower – usually less than 30%. But that could change this year, according to reports from local election officials and candidates who have been talking to voters for weeks. For one thing, the number of absentee ballots already processed for the Nov. 5 contest are nearly three times what they were in 2015, according to Matt Wilson, spokesman for the Prince William County Office of Elections. As of Monday, Oct. 28, with six days of in-person absentee voting remaining, the local elections office had counted 10,055 absentee ballots. That’s almost three times the 3,900 cast in 2015, Wilson said. “Typically, this is one of our more quiet general [elections], but the absentee numbers are just knocking people out,” Wilson said. Local polling places are prepared for a turnout as high as 70% even though the county hasn’t seen it top 29% in recent “off-off-year” contests. Turnout is higher in gubernatorial election years – about 45% -- and in presidential election years, when it generally tops 70%. This year, the office of elections is expecting turnout could climb as high as 40% or 50%, Wilson said. See ELECTION, page 2
PHOTOS BY JILL PALERMO/MIKE BEATY.
Countdown to Nov. 5: Keith Martinez feeds absentee ballots into a scanner at the office of elections, top left. School Board Chairman Dr. Babur Lateef and county chair candidate Ann Wheeler, both Democrats, pose with Sen. Amy Klobuchar in Manassas Sunday (top right). Debbie Weber, a volunteer for the PWC Republican Committee, hands out sample ballots outside the office of elections (bottom right). Del. Hala Ayala, D-51st, chats with voters Donna and Sean Peck (bottom left).
Why turnout matters
In Prince William, higher voter turnout has favored Democrats in recent years. In 2015, when voter turnout was 29%, Corey Stewart (R) was re-elected chair of the Board of Supervisors with 57% of the vote. In 2018, when turnout was 58%, Stewart lost his bid for U.S. Senate by 32 points in the county. SOURCE: PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY OFFICE OF ELECTIONS.
INSIDE Calendar.............................................13 Classifieds...........................................17 Library Page.......................................12 Obituaries...........................................16
2015 election results
Opinion.................................................9 Puzzle...................................................8 Real Estate..........................................15 Sports.................................................10
2018 election results
86 WARRENTON, VA