Three out of five Williamsburg City Council seats will be up for grabs on Nov. 5. The seats are currently held by Vice Mayor Pat Dent and council members Barbara Ramsey and Caleb Rogers.
Ramsey and Dent will appear on the ballot along with Fraser Hudgins, Anne-Christian “Lulu” McCrady, Ayanna Williams and Lindsay Barna. The filing deadline was June 18. Rogers did not file for reelection.
Williamsburg’s City Council comprises at-large seats, meaning the candidates are all people who live in the city, but they are not running to represent a specific district. The three candidates who receive the most votes will be the ones to fill the open seats. The newly made up council then decides who will be mayor and vice mayor.
Candidates run without party designation.
City Council appoints the city manager, city attorney, clerk of council and two members of the joint Williamsburg-James City County School Board. There are no school board positions up for appointment this year.
For council, residents can vote for up to three candidates. The registrar’s office urges people to register as soon as possible and get their voting plan in place. That way they can see their ballot be counted when they vote rather than as a provisional ballot.
There are three ways to vote: People can apply for an absentee ballot, vote early at the city registrar’s office or vote on Election Day at the voting precincts in the city. Early voting begins on Sept. 20 and lasts until the Saturday before the election.
The voting precincts are at the Williamsburg Community Building and at Williamsburg United Methodist Church on Jamestown Road.
Sam Schaffer, samuel.schaffer@virginiamedia.com
