UPDATE 3/13 @ 3:00 PM from the Fairfax County Republican Committee:

Because the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) closed community use activities at schools starting on March 14, the Fairfax County Republican Convention will take place at the following date, time, and place:

Time/Date: 10:00 AM, Saturday, March 14 (Check-in starts at 9:00 AM.)

Place: Pennino Park – an outside park used for events behind the Pennino Building at 12011 Government Center Parkway, Fairfax, VA 22035.

PLEASE NOTE: The convention will only address the essential business of electing a new chairman and county at-large FCRC members (no candidate talks or side issues).

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Prior update from 3/12

From the Fairfax County Republican Committee:

Out of an abundance of caution aimed at minimizing potential exposure to the coronavirus, FCRC has made the following adjustments to plans for the FCRC Convention this Saturday:

• • • The convention will continue to take place at 9:00 AM, Saturday, March 14 in the auditorium of W.T. Woodson High School, 9525 Main Street, Fairfax, VA 22031 (Building opens and registration starts at 8:00 AM.)

    • We will proceed with two straightforward votes by convention delegates on 1) the new Chairman of the Fairfax County Republican Committee (only one candidate filed), and 2) members who will be filling county at-large member positions (we are under-filed for these positions). Both votes appear to be “pro forma” in nature.

    • We will NOT conduct a STRAW POLL BY SECRET BALLOT at the convention so as to avoid delegates handling paper and standing in lines. As originally planned, the intent of the straw poll was to survey the preferences of convention delegates for candidates seeking Republican nominations for Virginia Senator and the House of Representatives from the 8th and 10th Congressional Districts. Instead of voting at the convention, we will do the straw vote online for convention delegates only and will provide details about that process in a later message. (Let me emphasize the straw poll results will NOT represent official nomination results. Official nomination voting will take place in the primary voting for Senate candidates on June 9 and for Congressional candidates at the 8th and 10th District Republican Conventions, both scheduled for May 30.)

    • Candidates seeking Republican nominations for public office plus candidates seeking to be Chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia will each have the opportunity to make three-minute presentations at the convention.

    • FCRC will not be serving any food or drink at the convention. We will have water available for emergency use only. We encourage delegates and attendees to bring their own water.

    • FCRC will have available a limited supply of hand sanitizer at the convention. We encourage delegates and attendees to bring their own hand sanitizer bottles/wipes​​​​​​.

    • The convention auditorium has 1,000 seats so delegates and attendees should be able to spread out for safe space purposes.

    • We ask that all convention attendees follow safe social distancing best practices, including no hand-shaking or other personal touching, maintaining safe distances from other attendees at all times, washing of hands after touching a person or an object that could carry the virus (e.g., a microphone), etc. Protect yourself and those around you!

PLEASE NOTE: If anyone is concerned about endangering their own or someone else’s health by attending the convention, then FCRC recommends they NOT attend the convention. It is not necessary nor desired for people at risk to attend the convention. Better to be safe than sorry!