Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 4, 1994 TAG: 9405040132
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MELISSA DeVAUGHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FLOYD LENGTH: Medium
The candidates had no registered opposition in the race, which usually results in a routine pat on the back and a few affirmative votes returning them to office. However, in this case there was at least one write-in candidate, which caused this turnout to be the highest for an election in which candidates had no opponents on the ballot.
"We've got the Hardee's coming here, and I think that's heated up the battle some," chief poll worker Glenna Velcher said. "Some people were against it, and they think it's the town's fault." The Hardee's will be the first fast-food restaurant in the county.
Mayor Skip Bishop ran unopposed in Tuesday's election, but write-in candidate Larry Petrie announced a bid for council against Rebecca Harman and Otis Howell. Harman sought her second term and Howell ran for his fourth, after serving on the council for 12 years. Petrie is chairman of the town's Zoning Board of Appeals.
Bishop, a teacher and baseball coach at Floyd County High School for 20 years, is running for office for the first time. He was appointed three years ago to fill a vacancy left by former Mayor Gino Williams, now the commonwealth's attorney in the county.
Of the 261 registered voters in the town of Floyd, 56 had shown up at the polls by 10:30 a.m. They filed into the courthouse basement room every five minutes and exchanged a few hellos with the poll workers. "We all pretty much know each other," poll worker Irene Marshall said.
By 2 p.m., 80 people had voted. The final tally was 106 voters. In last year's local elections, also unopposed, only 37 voted. The only election that prompted a bigger turnout was in 1990, when 145 residents voted in a stiff competition between two candidates for mayor and four for Town Council.
"We usually do very well percentage-wise," poll worker Dixie Nichols said, "but I'd say this is way over our average turnout. There's going to be a lot of write-in votes this time."
The controversy that led to this year's lively election started last fall when Boddie-Noell Enterprises, which owns Hardee's restaurants, put in a bid to purchase land and build one of its fast-food restaurants in the middle of town. While many residents were eager to see economic growth in their community, others saw the restaurant as a threat, believing it would take away from the hometown atmosphere for which Floyd is well known.
Dr. Meredith McGrath, a veterinarian, said she was not surprised by the turnout. She was one of the organizers of Neighbor-for-Neighbor, a community organization aimed at maintaining downtown Floyd as a prosperous and historic town.
"I think the Hardee's issue was the catalyst that got things started," said McGrath, who was interviewed as she came to vote. "After that, [residents] were able to see how insensitive the Town Council actually is, how they're really not listening to what we want."
Neighbor-for-Neighbor proponents say Petrie, who received 25 of the 26 write -in votes, would better represent the wishes of the people.
McGrath also pointed out that most of the council members and the mayor himself are appointed officers, and that "it's up to the people to make that change." As to whether or not a write-in candidate could depose one of the current council members, McGrath said, "I guess it could happen. Anything is possible."
Considering the number of people who were writing in their candidate choices, Velcher, Nichols and Marshall, the three poll workers for the election, expected a late evening. The three had come to work at 5:15 a.m. to set up the voting machine, then had to tend to the polls until 7 p.m. Afterward, they would hand-count the write-in votes and combine them with the total votes, hoping to call it a night by 9 p.m.
"It could be worse," said Marshall, who has worked the polls for 20 years. "I remember when we used to have to count everything by hand. One time, we didn't get home until 2 in the morning."
by CNB