Arlington County Board Primary: No Winner After 1st Round Of Voting

Updated: 10 p.m.

ARLINGTON, VA — It could take seven days to determine the ultimate winner of the Arlington County Board race in Tuesday's Democratic primary, according to the Virginia Department of Elections.

(Check the Virginia Department of Elections website, which is updated in real time, for live results.)

As of 10 p.m. Tuesday, none of the five candidates vying for the one vacant at-large seat on the county board had been declared the primary winner.

Arlington Democrats used ranked-choice voting to determine their county board candidate for the Nov. 5 election.

Arlington County Board - Democratic Primary - First Round Results*

• Julius D. "JD" Spain Sr. - 6,337 (32%)
• Natalie U. Roy - 5,621 (28%)
• Tenley D. Peterson - 4,647 (24%)
• James A. DeVita - 1,895 (10%)
• Julie E. Farnam - 1,238 (6%)

* Unofficial Results: 54 of 55 precincts reporting

Even though Spain received the most votes in the first round, he did not have a clear majority of the vote count. So, Farnam was eliminated and the process moved into the second round, with her votes divided among the remaining candidates.

Here is how the Virginia State Board of Elections describes the process:

Voters rank candidates in order of preference. You can rank as many or as few candidates as you like.

All first-choice votes are counted. If nobody wins a majority, the candidate with the fewest first choice votes is eliminated. Second choice votes from voters whose preferred candidate was eliminated are transferred to those corresponding candidates. If there's still no candidate with enough votes to win, the process is repeated until there’s a clear winner.

First round counting will begin on election night. Additional rounds will occur after all ballots have been received and may take up to 7 days to determine a winner.

Five candidates were also competing in the Republican primary on Tuesday in the U.S. Senate race to determine who will run against Sen. Tim Kaine (D) and independent Jonathan Hardin in November. View results of the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate.