Guide to Final Day of Early Voting

Saturday is your last chance to vote early – here’s a guide to help you avoid Tuesday’s rush. Also in this issue: Making it easier to figure out what to cook; Government Meetings, Nov. 6-10;

by Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Today is the final day for early voting in Virginia; here’s what you need to know.

Fredericksburg

Early Voting Location: 601 Caroline Street, Suite 500, 9 am-5 pm.

Who’s Running? See our voter’s guide.

Here’s what you need to know: Early voting in Fredericksburg has been brisk according to information provided by VPAP. Statewide, 109 out of 1,000 registered voters in Virginia have voted early. In Fredericksburg, that ratio is 142.3 per 1,000 – Considerably higher than either Spotsylvania (112/1,000) or Stafford (110/1,000).

The races for mayor and sheriff aren’t attracting people because each has just one candidate (Kerry Devine, mayor; Scott Foster, sheriff). The race for the two at-large seats on City Council are what appear to be driving voters. Long-time Council member Matt Kelly is running against newcomer Will Mackintosh and current School Board member Jannan Holmes.

For more details read the information available at the Fredericksburg City website.

Spotsylvania

Early Voting Location: 10699 Courthouse Rd (Breezewood Shopping Center), 9 am to 5 pm

Who’s Running? See our voter’s guide.

Here’s what you need to know: The early voting site in Spotsylvania has been plagued with candidates passing out misleading information. One of those offenders, Nick Ignacio, was taken to court and issued an injunction to cease passing out misleading information to voters.

Many of the races in Spotsylvania are highly contentious. In particular are the races for School Board and the race for sheriff. With four School Board seats up for grabs, public school advocates see an opportunity to retake control of a board that has had trouble carrying out its most-basic responsibilities – running School Board meetings, allowing new business items to be submitted, and approving minutes of meetings. The race for Sheriff has heated up as long-time sheriff Roger Harris is facing a challenge from Steve Maxwell, who has been involved in passing out misleading sample ballots at the Early Voting site.

For all the confusion and noise at the Spotsylvania Early Voting site, turnout has been much lower than in Fredericksburg, and only slightly higher than in Stafford County.

For more details read the information available at the Spotsylvania County website.

Stafford County

Early Voting Location: Conference Room ABC of the George L. Gordon, Jr., Government Center, 1300 Courthouse Road, 9 am – 5 pm

Who’s Running? See our voter’s guide.

Here’s what you need to know: Turnout for early voting in Stafford County is lower than it is for either Spotsylvania or Fredericksburg, but still about the average turnout for the Piedmont region of Virginia, and for the state as a whole.

There are three seats for Board of Supervisors being contested in Stafford: George Washington District (Deuntay Diggs v Tom Coen), Griffs-Widewater District (Tinesha Allen v Jennifer Harper), and Rock Hill (Howard Rudat v Crystal Vanuch). The George Washington and Rock Hill races have been hotly contested and will be closely watched on Election Night. The same districts have competitive races for School Board. Patricia Healy (Rock Hill) is running unopposed. But in Griffs-Widewater Elizabeth Warner is facing off against Mary Rupert, and in George Washington, Sarah Baker is facing Susan Randall.

For more details read the information available at the Stafford County website.

Election Night

Stay with FXBG Advance all day on Tuesday, November 7. We will be taking the pulse of voting activity at the polls across the region during the day, and feeding you election returns throughout the evening. We will also be reporting from Watch parties across the region.

Making it easier to figure out what to cook

by Debra Caffrey

Editor’s Note: This piece originally appeared in our sister publication Fredericksburg Parent and Family.

I think most folks would agree that one of the responsibilities of adulthood that can be the most strangely overwhelming is figuring out what to make for dinner. No matter how many times you perform this task, it never stops! Even though I love to cook and generally am thinking about it most of the time, I still feel this way too. It can be daunting to be the one responsible for feeding everyone every single day for eternity, but with a few strategies and mindset tweaks, it doesn’t have to! Here are some tips to make getting dinner on the table less of a struggle.

Meal Plan for a Longer Stretch of Time. It may sound counterintuitive to make your meal planning session longer if you’re already struggling, but I promise that front-loading your time like that will help in the long run. If you’re used to coming up with dinner ideas on the fly, commit to planning for a week. Once you can handle that, try for longer stretches, even if you break up the shopping for it. Once the meals are in place, you don’t have to think about what you’re making that entire time. It’s a very liberating feeling!

Get Resourceful. If you struggle to think of meal ideas, you don’t have to go at it alone! One of my favorite resources are the great cookbooks in the library. Ditto for spending a quiet afternoon in a bookstore. Start following fun recipe Instagram pages and bookmark ideas you like during the week. There are also plenty of Facebook recipe-sharing groups to borrow ideas from.

Involve Family Members. Even if you are the designated cook of the house, that doesn’t mean your family can’t help with the process. Invite your spouse and kids to come up with ideas too and share the load by having them take a turn cooking regularly.

Don’t Wait to Think! One of my biggest pieces of advice is to constantly have your little meal-planning thinking cap on all week long and not just when you sit down to actually officially do it. Throughout the week, be mindful of when meal ideas may come to you, even if it’s just something as simple as, “Oh, I’d like to have asparagus soon,” or “I could go for taco night!” Jot these ideas down and bookmark recipes you see along the way and when you go to meal plan “for real,” you’ll already have a starting point to work from. Finally, don’t overcomplicate things! We don’t have to serve gourmet meals every single night! Life, especially in the kitchen, is all about balance. It’s OK to give your kids boxed macaroni and cheese with some carrot sticks for dinner sometimes! Maybe that means more of an effort the next night. What matters most is togetherness and communion around the dinner table, no matter what’s on the plate!Local Government Meetings

Fredericksburg

Planning Commission – Wednesday, November 8, 4 pm to 10 pm. Read More.

Spotsylvania County

No meetings scheduled week of November 6 – 10 

Stafford County

Planning Commission – Wednesday, November 8, 6 pm to 9 pm. Read More. 

Odds and Ends at FXBGAdvance.com

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-Martin Davis, Editor