Minutes into the second hour of the six-hour Unassembled Democratic Caucus for Virginia House District 86, held Jan. 12, 2019, a woman dropped her ballot into the ballot box at Dranesville Elementary School in Herndon, one of the two polling places in the district. The official clicked her tally counter.

"What number am I?" the voter asked the official.

"Yours is the 242nd ballot,” the polling official said.

For registered voters in the VA District 86 who self-identified as a Democrat and pledged to support the eventual nominee, less than five hours remained to cast their ballots at either of the two polling places, Dranesville E.S. or Franklin Middle School in Chantilly.

Outside, voters and candidates spoke out about the apparent high voter turnout, why they participated and shared their viewpoints about the firehouse primary for VA House District 86.

Ibraheem Samirah won the four-way primary with 733 votes. A dentist who commutes daily from Herndon to D.C., Samirah writes on his campaign website that he is running for Virginia Delegate, "to give back—by helping families stay healthy, with more opportunities to succeed, and more time to spend together.” Samirah states transportation, education, jobs and economy, healthcare, drug policy reform and protecting the environment are his priorities. “As a Delegate, I will fight to make our commutes better by decreasing travel times, lowering toll costs, expanding our public transportation systems, and encouraging public partnerships with the private sector to make sure that all Northern Virginians benefit from our area’s rapid development."

Firehouse Primary Unofficial Results

Ibraheem Samirah, 733 votes

Kofi Annan, 615 votes

Mike O’Reilly, 503 votes

Chad Thompson, 196 votes