RICHMOND, Va. -- Voters came to cast their ballot in droves Tuesday, choosing a Democratic nominee to run for the 4th Congressional District seat. The firehouse primary follows the passing of Congressman Donald McEachin on November 28, who won the seat earlier that month.
The winner will face Republican Leon Benjamin, who was selected by the GOP in February.
At Diversity Thrift, one of only eight polling locations open for the election, a line of voters wrapped around the building. Voters told CBS 6 they had only waited about 10 minutes to cast their ballot. A volunteer said they had not seen or heard of any issues since the location opened.
South of Richmond, some churches offered to bus voters who had to travel longer distances to cast their ballot. Quinton Yates with Salem Baptist Church said they scheduled three different rides for voters.
"It's kind of inconvenient that we got to come all the way, almost 30 miles, to vote," Yates said.
Candidate Virginia Senator Jennifer McClellan weighed in on the issue early Tuesday morning when she and Senator Tim Kaine cast their ballot.
"If people need rides to the polls, we are ready to give them. Obviously, the more we could've had, the better, but I think under the circumstances of when the governor set the special, we are doing the best that we can, but we will make sure everyone who wants to vote will get to vote," McClellan said.
At another polling location off of Nine Mile Road, state Senator Joe Morrissey, who's also vying for the spot, said he had issues with the number of polling locations available.
"They've had to travel long ways. I don't have a voting precinct in Chester. I've had to travel outside of my county in Henrico. People who've gotta vote for me have to travel in my neighborhood, have to travel to Petersburg or Henrico," Morrissey said.
McClellan, Morrissey, former legislator Joseph Preston, and civil rights advocate Tavorise Marks are going head to head for the seat. Marks said he's adding his name to a lawsuit, claiming the limited amount of polling locations for the special election is "voter suppression."
"These long lines we've seen in Richmond, we've seen in Petersburg, is a direct result of voter suppression. The third and fourth order effects of that is, you take almost 244,000 people who could vote, normally who'd have 220 voting places to go, and you condense them down the four?" Marks said. "I'm out here in Brunswick County and I've met voters that come as far as South Hampton, and other areas in Southside Virginia where this is the only voting place."
CBS6 Political Analyst Dr. Bob Holsworth said the reason there are so few polling places was that the parties were only given 10 days to choose a nominee.
Vote counting will begin Wednesday morning. As of 3 p.m., Virginia Democrats reported that 16,118 ballots had been cast.
