Voter Satellite Office Approved For Burke Centre Library

BURKE, VA — An early voting location at the Burke Centre Library was unanimously approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Tuesday.

The voter satellite office for in-person early voting will be located at 5935 Fred Oaks Road in Burke. County staff will add this voter satellite office in time for the June 8, 2021 primary and will aim to find additional sites before the Nov. 2 election.

Voter satellite offices supplement the early voting location at the Fairfax County Government Center's Office of Elections. In 2020, the Board of Supervisors set 14 satellite early voting locations aside from the government center, up from nine sites used in the 2016 election.

The 2020 satellite voting locations included Centreville Regional Library, Franconia Governmental Center, Great Falls Library, Herndon Fortnightly Library, Laurel Hill Golf Club, Mason Governmental Center, McLean Governmental Center, Mount Vernon Governmental Center, North County Governmental Center, Providence Community Center, Sully Governmental Center, Thomas Jefferson Library, Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library and West Springfield Governmental Center.

Virginia law states that a governing body can establish as many voter satellite offices as needed. These offices can be located in a public building owned or leased by the county, city, or town within the county or facility owned or leased by the Commonwealth of Virginia and used as a DMV location or office of the general registrar. No changes of voter satellite offices can happen within 60 days of any general election.

Early voting drew plenty of interest in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the November 2020 election, approximately 33 percent of total Fairfax County ballots cast came from in-person early voting sites. Officials expect the trend of in-person early voting to increase, especially with new state legislation allowing no-excuse early voting.

A new voter satellite office would cost an estimated $35,000 over the amount budgeted in the current year's budget, according to the board agenda.