Cortes became Fairfax County general registrar in mid-August, charged with ensuring a smooth election in a county of more than 650,000 registered voters.
Is the county prepared for a smooth election this November?
I do [think so]. Certainly with such a big jurisdiction, obviously everyone is always concerned. My goal is — and I think we’ll be successful — is to stay out of the newspapers for this election. I think we’re very well set, we have a great staff here, very hardworking, very dedicated staff.
How did you get involved in elections?
From 2002-2004, I was involved with a program run by the governor of Puerto Rico. It was a national voter registration effort to register Latinos to vote. I was director of that program; we had offices in 14 states and registered about 330,000 voters over that two-year period. I’ve done some campaign work in Texas for some congressional races. And the past four years I spent at the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. I was director of their grants program, and I also did all the policy work related to voter registration.
How do you keep people interested in doing their civic duty in off-years like this?
I think certainly, for Virginia it’s a little bit different. It’s an off-year, but it is a big election that’s going to impact everybody in the state. I think for us the role is to make the process as easy as possible and as understandable to the voter as possible, so that voters know what to expect when they go to vote, they’re sure of the process, and they feel comfortable that we’re running fair and transparent elections.
Would you care to venture a turnout estimate for November?
I don’t think it will be as high as it was this past November. We always plan for a high turnout to make sure that we have all our bases covered, and to make sure that the voters understand the process and it goes efficiently.
