Prince William Times 11/23/2022

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SPORTS: Freedom-Woodbridge meets Patriot for region football title, Brentsville still rolling. PAGE 13

November 23, 2022 | Vol. 21, No. 47 | www.princewilliamtimes.com | $1.00 Covering Prince William County and surrounding communities, including Gainesville, Haymarket, Dumfries, Occoquan, Quantico and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.

Local turnout tops 51% in midterm elections Despite challenges, Election Day went smoothly, registrar says

“A democracy is maintenance. It’s constant maintenance to make it continue to work.” ERIC OLSEN Prince William County’s elections chief

By Cher Muzyk

Times Staff Writer

Despite some major changes – including the addition of several new voting precincts and a lawsuit that resulted in last-minute staffing changes at polling places – the recent midterm election went smoothly in Prince William County and turnout topped 50%, according to Eric Olsen, the county’s director of elections. Less than a week before the election, a judge ordered the Prince William County, elections office to appoint new Republican chiefs and assistant chiefs at about 30 polling places on Election Day after the Republican Party of Virginia and lo-

TIMES STAFF PHOTO/CHER MUZYK

Prince William County General Registrar Eric Olsen. cal GOP committee filed a lawsuit charging the county had not done enough to ensure partisan parity among head election officers.

In addition, the county was dealing with new poll book equipment, same-day voter registration and multiple Freedom of Information Act requests from local election skeptics, Olsen said. Still, Olsen said he “felt good” about how things went on Election Day. “We had some precincts that had some problems here and there,” Olsen said. “In general, we probably saw a few more mistakes than usual, which is not surprising given that a fair number of our officers were working their first elec-

tion or second election regardless of which party or non-party they were working for.” But overall, Olsen said he was satisfied. “I think things went pretty well on Election Day, given all the changes that we were dealing with,” he said. “We just had to recruit a lot of new officers to make sure we had enough people. And by and large, they did great,” Olsen said. For Olsen and his staff, continuous improvement is a top priority, he said. See MIDTERM, page 2

Developer makes new pitch for Kline farm project: baseball fields By Jill Palermo

Times Staff Writer

SUBMITTED

What do you love about Manassas? When the City of Manassas Economic Development Department asked that question for a recent photo contest, it received more than 370 photos in response. “Christmas Time in Old Town,” (above left) by Gary Dize, won an honorable mention. “What’s your destination,” (below left) by Don Wright, won the first-place prize while “Center and Battle Winter,” (above) by Mary Soboda, won second place.

New fall books abound at the libraries, Page 9

The housing developer behind a long controversial plan to develop the former Kline dairy farm into hundreds of new homes is tossing a new pitch to area residents: If Prince William County officials approve the latest iteration, it could provide a new home for the Greater Manassas Baseball League. Developer Stanley Martin, the City of Manassas, Prince William County officials and representatives of the youth baseball league began discussions about eight months ago on the possibility of dedicating about 25 acres of the former Kline dairy farm to a new baseball complex for the GMBL, according to Truett Young, Stanley Martin’s vice president of land acquisition for the Washington, D.C. area. See KLINE, page 4

It’s a holiday tradition! The Nutcracker returns to Hylton, Page 10

88 DULLES, VA

It’s all about people . . . and always will be. www.vnb.com


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