People had plenty of reasons for voting—or not voting—yesterday. Sharon Nettles, a 21-year-old sales clerk, said she couldn’t spare time from work—and this election just wasn’t that interesting to her. “Nobody’s really talking about it that much,“ said Nettles, who lives near the Shops at Willow Lawn in Henrico County.

The chief officer on Afghanistan’s election commission says Saturday’s presidential runoff has been canceled.

Goose-bump moments. We all have them. Sometimes, they come at unexpected times. I was fortunate enough recently to visit Hawaii, and while there my wife and I took a “duck” tour of Honolulu that included a trip to Pearl Harbor. As we motored around the city in a ridiculously yellow amphibious landing craft, our guide pointed out various sites and played kitschy songs by the Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, Don Ho, etc.

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones is jumping in to try to sway next Tuesday’s special election for the open 7th District seat on the City Council. After weeks of speculation, Jones is endorsing Cynthia I. Newbille in the six-candidate race to represent the East End. In a recorded phone message that went to district households Tuesday, Jones encourages people to vote for Newbille. Another round of calls is expected next week.

A U.N.-backed fraud commission yesterday threw out votes from 83 Afghan polling stations and ordered recounts at hundreds of others in three provinces that form President Hamid Karzai’s political base, reducing his chances of avoiding a runoff. The Aug. 20 presidential election has been marred by allegations of ballot stuffing, phantom polling stations and turnout at some polls that exceeded 100 percent of registered voters.

Six candidates met yesterday’s filing deadline to qualify for a special election to fill the 7th District seat on Richmond City Council. Ronald L. Bond, Clarence Kenney, Deanna Lewis, Cynthia I. Newbille, Garry F. Powell and Robin D. Robinson submitted papers with the city registrar’s office to be listed on the Nov. 3 ballot. The 7th District seat was vacated early this year when longtime Councilwoman Delores L. McQuinn resigned after winning a special election for the 70th District seat in the House of Delegates. The House seat opened after Dwight C. Jones was elected mayor last fall.

Hopes soared. NPR, for instance, aired reports of eager campaign crowds rooting for the election of Mir Hossein Mousavi as Iran’s new president. Mousavi rated as a relative moderate who promised reform and who enjoyed the support of the young. A Mousavi-led Iran presumably would be more open to the West and would allow for the liberation of social mores, particularly regarding women.

The race for sheriff in Richmond proved to be more nuance than knockout last night as the two Democratic candidates squared off in an orderly, civil discussion of issues.

The day L. Stanley Hardaway was sworn in as secretary of the State Board of Elections, he had to put his tractor away early from harvesting peanuts on his Sussex County farm. He had already asked for a few days’ delay before starting the state board job so he could get the crop in and finish his responsibilities as Sussex County general registrar.

Virginians absorbed more national political limelight in 2008 than in most of the previous half century combined. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton battled for the state’s Democratic Convention dele gates in February. In the fall, Obama and sidekick Joe Biden faced off against John McCain and Sarah Palin for the commonwealth’s 13 electoral votes.

“Because of what we did on this date, in this election, at this defining moment change has come to America,“ President-elect Barack Obama said in his victory speech. As an African-American mother of three children, I’ve been sporadically crying ever since election night. When I tell my children they can work hard and aspire to any job in this country, that statement is finally, finally true.

Richmond police had nothing but kind words this morning for the several thousand people who staged an impromptu street party late last night to celebrate Barack Obama’s presidential election victory. “No problems at all,“ Capt. David Martin said. No arrests were made and no force was required to control a crowd that police estimated at more than 2,000 people who gathered on the Virginia Commonwealth University main academic campus to party in the streets and march downtown.

Students filled the sidewalks in the Fan District and politicians fought back tears. Broad Street was shut down from Belvidere to Lombardy streets while a crowd of at least a thousand cheered and waved flags and Obama signs. The block in front of the Siegel Center was filled wall to wall with happy people. Emotions built up over two years of presidential campaigning erupted tonight as Sen. Barack Obama’s victory became a reality.