UPDATE 4/2/2012: From 8th District GOP Chairman Mike Ginsberg:

Thank you to everyone who was involved in the Mark Kelly for Arlington County Board campaign.  We had a tremendous volunteer response and could not have run such a great campaign without such great volunteers.  While we were unsuccessful in getting Mark elected to the Board, there were a number of notable successes and positive takeaways from the race.

Mark won about 43.5% of the vote, and lost to Libby Garvey by only about 800 votes. Libby Garvey won only 49% of the vote, and therefore the Kelly campaign held the Democrats below 50 percent of the vote. Although we hoped for victory, this bodes well for the fall elections. In fact, the Democratic Party of Virginia had to spend substantial sums on advertisements and mailings in the last weeks of the campaign given the strength of Mark’s campaign.

Mark won 16 precincts in Arlington County, a tremendous showing.  In so doing, he activated a lot of Republicans who we will need to activate again this fall. So it was a tremendous help to the overall 2012 effort.

The results also show we have some work to do in preparation for the fall elections. We need to redouble our efforts to identify voters and bring them to the polls — particularly those who have participated in the recent 2012 presidential primary or the 2012 congressional primary.  Turnout is more important than ever in a year with two statewide races, so we will continue our efforts to contact identified Republicans and potential supporters.

All in all, this was a tremendous effort.  Thank you to Mark Kelly, for one again carrying the Republican banner and serving as the voice of fiscal reason and restraint in a County Board election; campaign manager Matt Wavro; campaign treasurer Sandy Mikilia; and Arlington GOP precinct operations coordinators Brad McKinney and Goud Maragani.  Thank you also to the hard work of all the volunteers, precinct captains, YRs and ACRC members at the phone banks, and everyone else who helped the campaign.

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UPDATE 9:00 pm 3/27/2012: With 100% of precincts reporting, Democrat Libby Garvey has 49% (7,007 votes) to Mark Kelly’s 43% (6,194 votes) (full results). We’re disappointed with the outcome, but congratulations and thank you to Mark and the Arlington GOP for their hard work and strong showing in this special election. More later.

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The Arlington County Board special election is TODAY, Tuesday, March 27th! If you live in Arlington County, you can vote for our GOP nominee, Mark Kelly! Vote at your regular polling place. The polls will be open from 6:00 am – 7:00 pm. (If you’re unsure of your polling location, click here to use the Virginia State Board of Elections tool.)

Join the Mark Kelly for Arlington County Board campaign team and help them today. We need volunteers to help staff the polls and to make the final phone bank calls today.

If you can help staff a polling place and distribute literature to voters arriving at the polls, please contact Bradley McKinney at bradley.mckinney@gmail.com and we will get you all set up.

The phone banking will be today at the Arlington GOP headquarters, 405 S. Glebe Road, in Arlington (map).

You can also volunteer in other ways by calling volunteer coordinator Mary Ruth at 571-242-4869. There is plenty to do so call the campaign and it will give you a volunteer assignment!

Also, please be sure to contact your friends in Arlington who you think would be receptive to Mark’s message of sensible, transparent spending and lower property taxes and tell them about Mark and the election today. Turnout is everything in a low-turnout special election and we want to leave no stone unturned in the search for votes. The most convincing voter contact is a contact by someone the voter knows, so be sure to contact the folks you know.

We have a great chance to win today. Please help us bring an independent voice and a fresh approach to the Arlington County Board by getting Mark elected today!

The campaign will be having its election night party at Hard Times Cafe, 3028 Wilson Blvd. in Arlington (map), after the polls close at 7:00 pm.  Please join the campaign and the Arlington GOP to watch the results! You can get live results from the State Board of Elections website.