McLean voters selected three candidates for adult seats on the McLean Community Center Governing Board, plus two youth representatives, following voting May 21 at the McLean Day festival.
Counting in-person and absentee votes, the adult-seat winners were Kristina Groennings with 1,531 votes, Anna Bartosiewicz with 1,403 and Ari Ghasemian with 1,400.
The victorious candidates had been supported by some members of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee during an election that featured heated disagreements over the community center’s programming.
Other candidates who participated in the adult election included Debra Butler (who received 597 votes), Katie Gorka (643), Lauren Kahn (161), James Lawless (588), Maire Shine (576) and Ishah “Laurah Guillen” Wright (30). Voters turned in nine write-in ballots for adult candidates.
McLean-area teen voters cast 69 votes to select Charlotte Loving as the youth representative for the Langley High School boundary area. Loving was the sole candidate running for the post, for which one resident turned in a write-in vote.
Voters also delivered 62 votes to Sarah Tran, who will serve as youth representative for the McLean High School boundary area after narrowly defeating Max Blacksten, who received 60 votes. There were no write-in votes cast in that election.
Voters cast most of the ballots during absentee voting that occurred May 16 through 18. Residents cast 1,986 absentee votes for the three available adult seats, compared with just 395 who voted in person on McLean Day, for an overall total of 2,381 votes. The margin was closer in the youth election, with 78 of the 123 overall votes cast via absentee ballot and 45 in person.
The newly elected board members will undergo orientation May 25 and be sworn in at the Governing Board’s June 8 meeting. Those holding adult seats (who had to be at least 18 years old) will serve three-year terms and the youth representatives (who had to be 15 to 17 years old as of McLean Day) will serve for one year.
The election results are preliminary. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors still must certify the results and appoint the new Governing Board members.