Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 26, 1993 TAG: 9302260136
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
AFTER 23 YEARS, POLITICAL ANIMAL IS GIVING UP ELECTORAL BOARD
When Eleanor Hawkins joined the Montgomery County Electoral Board, Linwood Holton was governor and people still voted on paper ballots.That was 23 years ago and Hawkins, a Christiansburg resident, already had been involved in county elections as an election official for many years.
When she began working the polls, Hawkins was paid $5 a day and voters paid $2 a year for the privilege to vote.
"We called it a head tax, I think," Hawkins said. "People would get so mad when they'd come in and couldn't vote because they hadn't paid their $2."
Hawkins believes it's every citizen's duty to vote. The poll tax was a very unfair burden to put on voters, she said.
The 80-year-old Hawkins retires at the end of this month as a member of the Montgomery Electoral Board. She is the board's chairwoman.
"She just really a walking dictionary when it comes to the electoral process," Montgomery County Registrar Sandra Chapin said. "She's going to be greatly missed on the Electoral Board and [by] this office."
That compliment may mean more because it was paid by a Democratic registrar. Hawkins is the only Republican member of the three-member Electoral Board.
The majority on the board is determined by the party that holds the governor's office. The Democrats on the board are Regina Ryan of Shawsville and Carlton Sutphin of Blacksburg.
Hawkins' replacement will be named by the Circuit Court. County Republican Chairman George Alder has proposed three candidates: Jean Nelson, Jane Mitchell and Phoebe Poff, all of Christiansburg.
Circuit Judge Southall Jordan had named Hawkins to the board as one of two candidates proposed by the GOP. She volunteered her services to Oliver Strawn of Blacksburg, who was the party's county chairman at the time.
Hawkins benefited from the fact that the other candidate was from Blacksburg, and two other Blacksburg residents already served on the board. The judge was not about to name someone else from Blacksburg, she said.
Hawkins, who was born in Cambria and grew up in Christiansburg, has been a county resident all her life.
She has been married for 60 years to Andrew Hawkins, a retired employee of the Radford Army Ammunition Plant. The Hawkinses have three sons, none of whom is involved in politics.
Ever since she was old enough to vote, Hawkins has been involved in politics. "I was just interested in it," she said.
At first she worked for candidates outside the polls on Election Day. Then she moved inside to work as an election official. She enjoyed working the polls despite the small pay.
"It was really nice seeing people," she said.
Hawkins is wary of some proposed changes in election law such as the so-called "motor-voter" bill that would let people register to vote when they get their driver's licenses. She fears people who aren't eligible might wind up voting.
Everyone should vote, she said, but she also believes that it's a person's responsibility to put out the effort to get registered.
"They almost carry the people to the polls to vote anymore," she said. "I think that if people really want to vote, they'll make the arrangements."
Hawkins' advice to her successor is "to work well with everybody and try to be courteous with everybody."
Although appointments to the Electoral Board are political, she and fellow board members got along well and never discussed politics, Hawkins said.
During her tenure on the board, Howard Price, who was a member from Blacksburg for 34 years, was a big help, she said.
"I hate to get off, but I just feel like they need a younger person on there and I've been on long enough," she said. "I've enjoyed it and I've learned an awful lot."