Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 3, 1990 TAG: 9005030470
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PETER MATHEWS NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Wednesday, election officials certified Corn as the winner of Tuesday's election by a 1,111-to-1,098 count and said an error in reporting the totals to the Electoral Board caused the confusion.
Here is what happened:
Absentee ballots, sealed in envelopes, were brought to the city's three precincts. At 7 p.m. Tuesday, when the polls closed, the ballots were unsealed and counted. Precinct workers reported those totals and the machine counts to the Electoral Board.
However, the chief precinct officer at West 1 - the McHarg Elementary School polling place - accidentally reported the machine total, not the grand total, said John Hubble, secretary of the Electoral Board. Hubble said the votes were correctly recorded on the forms filled out by precinct workers.
The result: an apparent tie at 1,083 between Corn and Cox. When the absentee ballots from West 1 were added in, Corn picked up 28 votes and Cox 15.
Hubble would not identify the precinct officer. Corn, 64, clearly relieved at not having her fate decided by a drawing, was sympathetic, saying precinct workers are under tremendous pressure to report the results quickly.
Cox, 42, could not be reached for comment after he got the bad news Wednesday. Tuesday night, he said he probably would ask for a recount if he came up a loser by a narrow margin - and Corn ended up with 50.3 percent of the vote.
"Jim handled it very professionally," Hubble said. "He's a class act."
Cox has 10 days to request a recount.
Corn is a retired accounting teacher. She taught at Radford High School, Radford College and Virginia Tech.
She said the city must continue to work on the solid waste problem and "monitor closely the activities of the Grayson Commission." City officials fear the legislative body will recommend that small cities such as Radford give up their independent status.
She also would like the legislature to find a way to pay for its mandates to local school systems, such as a one-half cent sales tax increase that could be earmarked for schools.
Tuesday's other winners were Mayor Tom Starnes, who turned back a challenge from Councilman David Worrell, and businessman Gary Weddle, who won a seat on City Council.
by CNB