Falls Church Election: 3 Candidates In City Council Race

FALLS CHURCH, VA — Tuesday marks Election Day in Falls Church. Voters who haven't cast absentee votes before Election Day are headed to the polls to vote in the presidential election, congressional races and a special election for a City Council seat. Two state constitutional amendments are also on the ballot. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

In the days leading up to Election Day, the City of Falls Church had the highest turnout of absentee votes as a percentage of registered voters. According to data tracked by the Virginia Public Access Project, the City of Falls Church had 58.19 percent as of Oct. 26.

Other Northern Virginia absentee vote percentages were 49.39 percent in Arlington County, 46.99 percent in the City of Alexandria, 46.7 percent in the City of Fairfax, 42.23 percent in Loudoun County, 41.52 percent in Prince William County, and 38.83 percent in Fairfax County.

Voters statewide will be voting in the presidential and congressional elections, but not all localities have local elections in 2020. The City of Falls Church is holding a special election to fill the City Council seat of Councilmember Dan Sze, who died in July.

There are three candidates: Debbie Hiscott, the executive director of the Falls Church Education Association; Joshua Shokoor, a member of the city's Housing Commission; and Simone Pass Tucker, an activist.

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The voting process has been smooth Tuesday morning in the City of Falls Church, which had turnout over 70 percent before Election Day. Voters encountered little or no wait after the polls opened at the city's three polling places.

Candidates for a City Council special election praised voters for the high turnout. Shokoor was outside the Falls Church Community Center precinct and said that voters have been trickling in. He hopes another 20 percent turnout on Election Day could be added to the 70 percent turnout from absentee voting.

Hiscott, greeted voters outside the Thomas Jefferson Elementary precinct Tuesday morning. She said there was a line at 6 a.m. as voters awaited polls to open.

"Other than that there have been no lines," Hiscott said.

David Putnam, a Falls Church voter, was encouraged by how early voting turnout made the voting process easy on Election Day. Getting in and out of the polling place at the Falls Church Community Center took five to ten minutes.

Putnam believes Falls Church voters are engaged in the local and congressional elections, although the presidental race takes center stage.

"I've seen a number of signs. I've met a couple of the candidates for the city positions, but I think the presidential election is the big one," Putnam told Patch.

Shelly Skomra, a fourth grade teacher in Falls Church, is a Republican but voted for Democrats in this election. She sees the pandemic as a serious issue, as her mother, a supporter of President Trump, died from COVID-19. But her voting decision is also based on character. She noted that her fourth grade students are aware of what's going on in the political realm.

"For me being a teacher is being a role model. This president is not," Skomra told Patch. "It's really hard these days to teach kids not to bully, to respect each other and not call each other names."

Linda O'Sullivan observed how businesses are boarded up in downtown DC ahead of Election Day. She had good things to say about the voting process and shared her preference for Democratic candidates.

"The voting experience was very smooth, very easy. Everyone should do it," she said. "I voted blue down the ticket."

The impact of the coronavirus pandemic has been a key focus of City Council for much of this year. Hiscott sees pandemic recovery as the top priority going forward.

"If elected, I will continue to work with local businesses on providing flexibility to maximize their ability to create income; work with landlords on rent relief, and work with our Economic Development Authority on additional ideas for business," Hiscott wrote in a questionnaire for Patch. "On a personal health front, I will continue to work with Fairfax Health authorities, the superintendent of Falls Church City Public Schools, and city staff to protect the health of the employees while also focusing on opening/re-opening strategies."

Shokoor, who has worked extensively on affordable housing policy, has centered his campaign around housing.

"I started running because the greatest threat to Falls Church families is housing," Shokoor told Patch.

He said that for the city to be inclusive, there must be equity in housing. His three main objectives regarding affordable housing are increasing the percentage of units being set aside as affordable housing, making progress on negotiations with landlords to keep units designated as affordable housing, and create a plan for The Fields, a largely Hispanic apartment community with all units designated as affordable housing.

Pass Tucker, a non-binary person who uses the pronouns they and their, also mentions housing in their platform.

"Falls Church is set to lose hundreds of affordable housing units. We need to fight to preserve these by any means necessary," Pass Tucker's campaign website states. "More affordable housing initiatives, including subsidized housing, are important because they allow people of all income levels to move to Falls Church City, which is essential to build a more inclusive, diverse, and equitable community."

In Hiscott's campaign questionnaire, she said environmental stewardship and equity are other key focuses of her campaign.

"I believe that we need to focus on affordable housing to increase the diversity of the population and provide a better continuum of socio-economic diversity," Hiscott wrote.

Shokoor entered the race motivated by the events of this year: the impacts of the pandemic and the movement for racial justice. On the latter, he wants to create a racial equity commission "to look at policies through a racial equity lens." As for policing, he sees the city's use of force committee as a good start. But he believes more conversations need to happen about policies that can be implemented without hindering the ability of police to do their jobs. He's also like to see more community outreach from police.

"In a small city like this, we should be able to know the names of half our police officers or more," he said.

Pass Tucker's website mentions that "predatory parking and speeding tickets" are an annoyance for white residents and a "legitimate concern" for residents of color.

"Focusing on community building and alternative methods of supporting public safety and enforcing the law, as well as scaling back these predatory measures- especially considering how safe our city is- are vital to the future of our city," their website states.

Hiscott said she supports the Black Lives Matter movement and sees protests as "critical discussions" moving forward. As for policing, she doesn't support the term "defund" but says she reports "reviewing current policing practices and structures and in looking at the allocation of resources across mental health and social work professionals to handle calls that may be better served by those individuals rather than police."

These are just a few of the highlighted issues candidates are discussing in the City Council race. Visit the candidates' websites for their stances on the issues.

• Debbie Hiscott - www.debbiehiscott.org
• Joshua Shokoor - www.shokoorforcitycouncil.com
• Simone Pass Tucker - simone4fc.com

If you're voting in person on Election Day, you can check your polling place at vote.elections.virginia.gov/VoterInformation. The three polling locations in the City of Falls Church are: Thomas Jefferson School, 601 South Oak Street (Ward 1); Falls Green Apartments (formerly Oakwood Apartments), 501 Roosevelt Boulevard (Ward 2); Falls Church Community Center, 223 Little Falls Street (Ward 3).

In-person voters must bring a valid Voter ID, which no longer has to be a photo ID. Some examples of accepted identification are a voter card, utility bill with their name and registered address on it, Virginia driver's license, U.S. passport, or employment badge. Any voter that does not have acceptable identification can vote by provisional ballot.

The Virginia Department of Elections website will provide election results starting after 7 p.m. on Election Day. Return to Patch for coverage of voting throughout the day and results as they come in.