ALT LANCASTER—As Election Day, November 3, nears, so does the preparation for the critical work—an accurate counting of ballots once the polls close at 7 p.m. The count starts with the ballot scanning machines. According to the Virginia Department of Elections (ELECT), “ballot scanning machines are certified to meet both state and federal standards and are maintained under a controlled chain of custody.” All optical scanners being used in the election are tested prior to any votes being cast in a process called logic and accuracy testing, which ensures that the machines are functioning and accurately counting votes as marked… Read more on the election process in this week's Rappahannock Record: https://rrecord.com/counting-on-results-after-election-day-protocol-and-patience.

ALT Michael and Christine Downing of Northumberland County were presented the 2026 Helen and Tayloe Murphy Conservation Champion Award at the Northern Neck Land Conservancy (NNLC) Boots and Barbecue event in early October. The award recognizes people in the community who have made a significant contribution to protecting natural resources and rural heritage of the region. Read more in this week's Rappahannock Record: https://rrecord.com/downings-are-presented-2026-helen-and-tayloe-murphy-conservation-champion-award.

ALT With early voting underway for the November 3 election, the Rappahannock Record recently asked candidates in contested local races to comment on a few issues. In Northumberland, a special election will be held for school board in District 5, to fill an unexpired term ending December 31, 2027. Dr. Frank DiGiovanni and Sue Swift, a write-in candidate, are actively campaigning for votes. Their responses are in alphabetical order and unedited for content. Open our e-edition or pick up a copy of this week's Record to get informed on this upcoming local election. - https://rrecord.com/candidates-for-district-5-school-board-seat-respond-to-questions.

ALT U.S. Senate candidate Bert Mizusawa will visit Kilmarnock on Wednesday, October 28, for a community Meet-the-Candidate and Get-Out-the-Vote town crawl organized by the Lancaster County Republican Committee. The event will begin at 3 p.m. at Small Town Burger and continue along the Main Street sidewalks before concluding at Nacho Average Brewpub, where Mizusawa will take questions from residents. Full details in this week's Record: https://rrecord.com/u-s-senate-candidate-mizusawa-to-visit-kilmarnock.

ALT --𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗬 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗘𝗘𝗞-- KILMARNOCK—The Town of Kilmarnock’s Business District revitalization efforts are beginning to take shape as the project’s consulting firm seeks community-wide input. During a Monday, October 19, Council meeting, planning and zoning director Marshall Sebra said EPR Consulting, whom the town is working with for the revitalization project, has been engaging with property owners within the project area to better understand the community and their needs. 𝐄𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈𝐍-𝐅𝐔𝐋𝐋 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞: https://rrecord.com/kilmarnock-keys-in-on-economic-development/

ALT 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤'𝐬 𝐑𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐚𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞-𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧! The full e-edition is always available to our subscribers at https://rappahannockrecord-va.newsmemory.com. Be sure to check out 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤'𝐬 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲, "Kilmarnock keys in on economic development" here: https://rrecord.com/kilmarnock-keys-in-on-economic-development.

ALT LANCASTER—The Virginia Department of Education recently released the latest School Performance Support Framework (SPSF) numbers which show Lancaster schools improving in nearly all performance measures. Results for the 2025-26 school year have been added to the School Quality Profile which includes accreditation and data on assessments, enrollment and per pupil spending, student behavior, teacher quality, Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) reporting and early learning. Read more here: https://rrecord.com/lancaster-schools-improve-performance.

ALT 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩 𝐚𝐭 𝟕𝟕 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐈𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧, 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐤 “𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞.” Joanna and Anthony Marchetti honor the iconic waterway with quality clothes and accessories created by area artisans. Read more in this week's paper: https://rrecord.com/carters-creek-collective-spotlights-local-creek-community-and-creativity.

ALT 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟑 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐚𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞𝐬. In Irvington, three seats are up for election and a fourth represents an unexpired term. Four candidates filed for the three seats including R. Wayne Nunnally, Vivian S. “Viv” Ralls, Phillip A. Robinson and Sam C. Van Saun. Three candidates filed for the special election to fill the unexpired term ending December 31, 2028. The candidates include Mary Windsor Cline, George H. Kuper and Judith M. Penniman. (Editor’s note: Judith M. Penniman chose not to submit a photograph. Their responses are in alphabetical order and unedited for content.) Candidates in contested races for Kilmarnock Town Council and Northumberland County School Board, District 5, will be featured in the October 22 edition.

ALT The weather forecast for October 2-4 called for clouds and rain on Saturday and Sunday, but the opportunity to participate in the 𝟑𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐇𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐓𝐮𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐚 (𝐇𝐓𝐒𝐑) overcame racers’ concerns about the weather. Full recap in this week's Record: https://rrecord.com/osprey-wins-turkey-shoot-regatta.

ALT Effective October 9, out of an abundance of caution and in conformance with recommendations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) announced the waters in the Little Wicomico River in Northumberland County are closed to the harvesting of oysters and clams due to a link to a salmonella outbreak in Pennsylvania. --- VDH on October 9 also closed a portion of Lower Machodoc Creek in Westmoreland County to shellfish harvesting through October 29. due to a sewage release. 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞: https://rrecord.com/vdh-closes-two-northern-neck-waterways-to-shellfish-harvesting.