NORFOLK, Va. — Voting for most people is an in and out process, but it's a full-time job for Dianna Moorman.
“Forty five days is the longest early voting period than any other state in the country," she told 13News Now Monday.
As Director of Elections for James City County-- encompassing more than 60,000 registered voters-- it's Moorman's job to track voting trends across election cycles.
“Each locality is varied in this election, so turnout tends to shift: ours has been low for this election," she says.
Elections officials across Hampton Roads, including Moorman, shared with 13News Now exact day-of voting data on Friday, the first day of the state's early in-person voting.
- Virginia Beach: 423
- Chesapeake: 226
- Norfolk: 127
- Portsmouth: 100
- Newport News: 72
- Hampton: 145
- Suffolk: 115
- James City County: 211
Many of the localities recorded that those numbers are down, or similar to, the day-of voting numbers seen on September 17, 2021, the first day of early in-person voting for that year's November elections.
- Virginia Beach: 571
- Chesapeake: 577
- Norfolk: 93
- Portsmouth: 98
- Newport News: 74
- Hampton: N/A
- Suffolk: 2
- James City County: 575
Moorman says in general, she's found more people are getting more accustomed to voting before election day itself. But, voting trends will vary based on the number of competitive races there are in a specific locality. Moorman attributes their lower turnout to the fact there is only one race there for voters to vote on.
“In the past we always had a 60-percent turnout on election day and 40 percent absentee. Now that’s flipped," she says.
So far, more than 11,000 early votes have been cast in Virginia, with more than 80 percent of those early votes cast in person.