FORMER SENATOR ADMITS `BLUNDER' IN VOTING TWICE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, January 26, 1993                   TAG: 9301260194
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SUSSEX                                LENGTH: Short
FORMER SENATOR ADMITS `BLUNDER' IN VOTING TWICE
Former state Sen. Elmon T. Gray said Monday he never intended to mislead anyone when he voted twice Nov. 3, including a ballot that a poll worker mistakenly let him cast at his old precinct.
But Gray acknowledged the situation was a "blunder" as he faced a summons charging that he voted more than once in the same election. He apologized to General District Judge Phil Roberts and election officials.
According to a statement issued by Gray's office, he reported to the American Legion building where he had voted for more than 40 years shortly after the polls opened on Election Day.
There, a poll worker inadvertently let him vote under the name Elmer S. Gray, a cousin of the former lawmaker.
Gray said he learned later in the day that his polling place had been moved in the 1991 redistricting to the Wakefield Airport, and he went there to vote. He also said he called his cousin and told her about the error.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB