Candidates running for office in Fairfax County will continue to appear without a party affiliation next to their names on local ballots.

Virginia's Senate voted 25-14 against a bill by Sen. Mark Obenshain (R-26th District) that would have required candidates nominated by a party to identify with that party on Election Day ballots.

Virginia law enforces ballot party tags for candidates running only in statewide, federal or General Assembly races. The Fairfax County School Board, by law, must be a nonpartisan race, though no candidate has ever won a seat without a political endorsement.

Ballots for local races — including those for Fairfax County Board of Supervisors — are party-free.

"Non-partisan elections are part of their culture and the citizens like it that way.  There is no request to change the law," said Sen. Chap Petersen (D-34th District), who represents parts of Oakton, in a statement.

It's not the first time the bill has appeared before the Senate: It was also introduced in 2011, largely touted as an effort to take partisan politics out of local races. This year, it passed committee on an 8-7 vote but couldn't carry enough support to pass the full body.

This year's bill, Obenshain said, wasn't about ending nonpartisan offices or elections, but about "pretending that a party nominee’s partisan affiliation isn’t meaningful information and isn’t worth sharing with the voters," he told the Washington Post.

Del. Jim LeMunyon (R-67th District), who represents parts of Oakton, introduced a bill in the House of Delegates asking for party affiliation to be listed on ballots for local races. Last week, a subcommittee of the Privileges and Elections committee left his bill on the table.