This article originally appeared here, at ffxnow.com

A new Braddock District Supervisor could be seated by the end of this calendar year.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors officially petitioned the Fairfax Circuit Court on Tuesday to schedule a special election to fill the vacancy — one of the initial steps following last week’s resignation by James Walkinshaw.

In the board’s petition, which was unanimously approved, the nine remaining members requested the special election be held on Dec. 9. The final date, however, is up to the judiciary’s discretion.

Under Virginia law, the court must “promptly” issue a writ ordering the election, though there is no explicit timeline for setting a date.

“I think it’s important to fill this seat as quickly as we reasonably can within the confines of the Virginia Code,” Board Chairman Jeff McKay told FFXnow earlier this month, “so we will not waste any time petitioning for a date and hope that the courts will act with great dispatch and schedule a date quickly.”

The process of scheduling a special election this year is hindered by November’s statewide elections. No special election can be held within the 55 days before a general election, forcing the special election to be held — at the earliest — after Nov. 4.

“There’s no way possible to hold the special election for Braddock Supervisor on the same day as the gubernatorial general election, so we already ruled that out,” McKay said. “Ideally, you would have that special election at the same time so that you wouldn’t have voters come to the polls multiple times.”

Once the special election is scheduled, it will be up to local party committees to determine the process for selecting their party’s nominee, similarly to what played out during the special election in Virginia’s 11th Congressional District earlier this year.

As of Tuesday, a primary process won’t be necessary for Republicans. Ken Balbuena, a former county appointee and civic association president, is the party’s lone candidate in the race.

On the Democratic side, three candidates are currently vying for the nomination: school board members Ilryong Moon (Kings Park West) and Rachna Sizemore Heizer (Burke), as well as Fairfax Young Democrats co-president Sabrina Mattin (Braddock).

The Braddock District, which includes parts of Annandale, Burke and George Mason University, has been represented by Democrats since Walkinshaw won the seat in 2019.

In last week’s special Congressional election, Braddock District voters overwhelmingly supported Walkinshaw over his Republican opponent, with Walkinshaw winning by nearly 51 points.