Lee County voters will choose a U.S. senator and a member of Congress on Tuesday, November 3, and decide three changes to the Virginia Constitution. Voters in Pennington Gap and Jonesville will also pick a mayor and town council members.
One detail stands out in the state’s candidate filings. Jonesville has seven town council seats on the ballot and only five filed candidates.
The lists below come from the Virginia Department of Elections’ candidate and referendum files: the federal list revised October 6, the local list revised October 9 and the referendum list revised September 8.
Congress
For the U.S. Senate, Democrat Mark R. Warner, the incumbent, faces Republican Bert Mizusawa. Every Virginia voter sees this race.
Lee County is in the 9th Congressional District. There, Republican H. Morgan Griffith, the incumbent, faces Democrat Joy A. Powers.
Three constitutional amendments
All Virginia voters will answer three yes-or-no questions. In short, according to the state’s official ballot text:
- Question 1 would protect the freedom to make personal decisions about reproductive care, including prenatal care, childbirth, birth control, abortion, miscarriage management and fertility care.
- Question 2 would remove the constitution’s ban on same-sex marriage, affirm that two adults may marry regardless of sex, gender or race, and require all legally valid marriages to be treated equally.
- Question 3 would state a fundamental right to vote and change the rule for people convicted of felonies. They could not vote while incarcerated, but their voting rights would be restored automatically on release.
The full wording of each question is on the Department of Elections’ referenda page. There is no Lee County referendum on the list, including the 1% school sales tax that 47 other localities will vote on.
Pennington Gap
Terry K. Pope is the only candidate filed for mayor, and the state list does not list Pope as the incumbent.
Eight candidates are running for five council seats. Only one of them, Jimmy L. Warner, is listed as an incumbent. The others are Paul Doug Alsup, Travis C. Mullins, Darrell W. Hayes, Megan L.L. Kennedy, Orville D. Overton, Loretta L. See and E. Ty Harber Jr. All are running as independents.
Jonesville
Mayor Jerry L. Harris is running again with no filed opponent.
For the seven council seats, the five filed candidates are incumbents B. Kenny Hounshell, Danielle R. Stapleton and Rebecca Riggs Hines, along with Michael J. Litton and Summer M. Wynn. With two more seats than candidates, write-in votes could decide the rest.
The state’s local list shows no other Lee County races, so there are no Board of Supervisors, School Board or St. Charles town contests on it. Its separate list of November special elections, revised August 21, has no Lee County entries.
How and where to vote
Early in-person voting is already open and ends on Saturday, October 31, the Saturday before Election Day, according to the state’s early voting rules. No reason or application is needed. Voters give their name and address and show an acceptable ID or sign an ID confirmation statement.
Lee County’s General Registrar’s office is at 133 School Board Place in Jonesville. The county’s registrar page lists weekday hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and a phone number of (276) 346-7780. Call ahead to confirm early voting hours, especially for Saturday, because that page still shows Saturday hours from 2025.
Mail ballots must be returned by 7 p.m. on Election Day, either in person or at a drop-off location. A ballot sent by mail counts if it is postmarked by Election Day and reaches the registrar by noon on the third day after the election. On November 3, polls are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. under state law, and voters can find their polling place with the state’s lookup tool.
