Charlietta Jeffries is the type of person who always votes, no matter how small the election, and the political campaigns know it.

“I have received a lot of mail and phone calls and visitors,” said Jeffries, as she walked out of her polling place at the Lorton Community Library on Richmond Highway Nov. 3.

Though people talked about the enthusiasm of President Barack Obama’s campaign last year, Jeffries said the 42nd District delegate race between Del. Dave Albo (R) and Democratic candidate Greg Werkheiser created more mail, calls and visits than any of the races in 2008.

Albo, who has represented the 42nd District since 1994, defeated Werkheiser, receiving 56.6 percent of the vote and 11,765 votes on Election Day. The challenger garnered 43.3 percent of the vote and 9,000 ballots in the contest.

Overall, Jeffries estimated that she had received at least five political phone calls per day over the past two weeks, mostly in connection with the local delegate race.

Over the last month, Jeffries also has had five to seven people knock on her townhouse door on behalf of candidates running for office. In one case, she noticed two volunteers who had come to talk specifically to her. When they left one night, she watched out a side window and noticed they didn’t even bother stopping at anyone else’s door on her cul de sac.

“I think this year was the worst,” said Jeffries, who has lived in Lorton for nine years.

Debbie Hersman, who voted at South County Secondary School, agreed with Jeffries about omnipresence of the local delegate race in her mailbox.

“Most of the mail was from the delegate race. I didn’t receive very much mail from the statewide candidates at all,” said Hersman, who tries to vote in every election.

VIRGINIA CANDIDATES can purchase lists of voting histories for the residents in the district where they are running from the Commonwealth. These lists often identify to the candidates and campaign operatives who is likely to show up at the polls on Election Day.

For people who are flagged as “hardcore voters,” this can result in a lot of unsolicited attention from political staffers, volunteers and the candidates themselves.

As of Oct. 21, the 42nd Delegate district had already become the most expensive delegate race in the history of Virginia, according to information posted on the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonpartisan campaign finance watchdog organization.

Combined, the Albo and Werkheiser campaigns spent more than $1.9 million on a political contest that only attracted 20,765 voters, according to the Virginia State Board of Elections. The exact amount of money spent by each campaign will not be known until December, when the last campaign finance reports covering the 2009 election cycle are made public.

But with two weeks left until Election Day, Albo had already spent $754,286, about $64.11 for every voter that cast a ballot for him Nov. 3. With the same number of days to go in the campaign, Werkheiser spent $641,404 — or about $71.27 per voter.

THIS IS Werkheiser’s second run at ousting Albo from the 42nd District. He also ran against the Republican incumbent four years ago in 2005.

In 2009, the Democratic Party of Virginia made the 42nd District race one of their highest priorities in the commonwealth.

“The Democrats decided they wanted to take me and (Del.) Tom Rust (R-86) out,” said Albo on the day of the election.

The Democratic House of Delegates’ caucus contributed at least $235,338 to Werkheiser’s campaign and the Democratic Party of Virginia threw in at least $194,889. The Fairfax County Democratic Committee also contributed at least $14,000.

But Albo widened his margin of victory over Werkheiser from about 3 percent to over 13 percent this year.

Albo also received a lot of money from political parties and the Republican House leadership. According to the Virginia Public Access Project, the Republican Party of Virginia contributed at least $117,900 and Dominion Leadership Trust political action committee, which is run by the Republican speaker of the House of Delegates, donated $99,500 to Albo. Del. Chris Jones (R-76) also transferred at least $26,200 to Albo’s campaign.

According to the Virginia Public Access Project, Albo spent at least $209,695 on television and radio, $145,378 on mail to constituents, $43,909 on polling and other forms of phone calls and $13,732 on signs and bumper stickers.

Werkheiser spent at least $155,660 on television and radio pieces and $62,961 on mail to constituents.

The two candidates had different explanations for why the campaign had grown so expensive.

According to Albo, closely contested elections create an “arms race” mentality about advertising and messaging. If one candidate is sending mail to all their potential supporters in the district every day, then the other candidate feels the need to do the same and it just spirals, he said.

Werkheiser said it is a direct outgrowth of gerrymandered districts. The candidate supports creating a nonpartisan method of adjusting political boundaries in Virginia, in part because gerrymandered districts create a situation in which certain races become outlandishly expensive, he said.

Since most of the delegate seats are drawn to be safe for their incumbent and a certain political party, the Republicans and Democrats end up funneling enormous resources into the handful of races that are competitive, like the 42nd District contest.

“It would be a better situation if everyone had to spread that money around to the 100 delegate seats,” said Werkheiser.

STILL, ALBO, who is senior Republican in the House of Delegates, appeared vulnerable to the Democrats for a good reason. The 42nd District has broken for Democrats in several recent election cycles.

President Barack Obama won 57 percent of the vote in Albo’s delegate seat in 2008 and Gov. Tim Kaine (D) beat his Republican opponent with 55 percent of the vote in 2005.

Still, Albo said that the public is starting to gain a better impression of Republicans again, now that President George W. Bush is no longer in office. The 2009 statewide Republican ticket also performed better at the Fairfax County polls than most others in recent elections.

“This is the first year I haven’t had to fight against my statewide ticket in my own district,” said Albo.

The delegate also said he tries to spend time fixing “local issues” for the community that do not necessarily have a partisan bent to them. For example, Albo worked with state Sen. George Barker (D-39) to secure state funding for the new South County Middle School.

He is also meeting with other elected officials and the West Springfield High School community to try and find a solution to the school’s physical shortcomings.

Christine Wells, who was wearing an Albo shirt and passing out campaign literature for the delegate at Saratoga Elementary School, said she first came in contact with the Republican through her homeowners association about five years ago.

Wells and others were concerned about the impact job transfers to Springfield as a result of the military’s Base Realignment And Closure process would have on the local transportation infrastructure.

“He is very responsive and very approachable. I don’t think he promises anything that he doesn’t think he could do,” said Wells, who has never volunteered for a political campaign before.

Wells said she thinks Albo has appeal across political party lines.

“I am pretty sure some of the my neighbors that vote for Democrats in national races will vote for Dave locally,” said Wells.

But some Democratic activists criticized Albo for putting his political party above the needs of the 42nd District, particularly when it comes to transportation issues.

Christopher Ambrose, a Democratic precinct captain in Lorton, said Albo often sides with the Republican leadership in the House of Delegates, which will not consider raising statewide taxes to help meet Virginia’s transportation needs. According to Ambrose, this type of inflexibility has mired the transportation funding issue for several years.

“They just don’t to do anything. I am just frustrated with the whole House of Delegates. It is unbelievable how obstructionist they have been,” said Ambrose, while campaigning for Werkheiser outside the Lorton community library.

Saratoga resident Ralph Cooper, who was also campaigning for Werkheiser on Election Day, said he does have any personal issues with Albo. But he does not trust that the Republicans in charge of the House of Delegates are serious about addressing Northern Virginia’s transportation needs.

“I have no problems with Dave Albo but that people in his party in the House of Delegates need to go,” said Cooper.