According to the following graphic by VPAP, “Early voting doesn’t begin until mid-September, but the pandemic has increased demand for mail-in ballots across Virginia. As of August 23, nearly 440,000 voters had applied for mail-in ballots, an increase of 75% compared to the final number of requests four years ago.” The greatest increase, in percentage terms, is in the heavily “blue” 8th CD (+112%), followed by the “purple”/”red” 5th CD (+86%; note that in VA05, there’s a highly competitive U.S. House race between Democrat Dr. Cameron Webb and far-right Republican Bob Good, who ousted incumbent Denver Riggleman in a bizarre convention); the deep-“blue” 3rd CD (+82%); the “purple” 7th CD (+77%; note that there’s a competitive u.S. House race here, between incumbent/Democrat Rep. Abigail Spanberger and right-wing Republican Nick Freitas); the “red” 1st CD (+76%; House race here between incumbent Rep. Rob Wittman and Democrat Qasim Rashid); the deep-“red” 9th CD (+74%); and the “purple” 2nd CD (+72%; incumbent Rep. Elaine Luria vs. Republican Scott “Petitiongate” Taylor). The lowest increase is in the “blue” 10th CD (+22%; incumbent Rep. Jennifer Wexton vs. far-right challenger Aliscia Andrews); followed by the deep-“blue” 11th CD (+41%; incumbent Rep. Gerry Connolly); the bright-“red” 6th CD (+57%); and the deep-“blue” 4th CD (+60%; incumbent Rep. Donald McEachin).
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