Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 10, 1995 TAG: 9511100089
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
An employee of Henry County's outlandish Cable 6 television station is now a member of the Board of Supervisors.
Independent candidate Debra Parsons Buchanan was declared the winner of the Horsepasture seat on the board when her name was drawn from a basket on Wednesday.
Buchanan, a morning talk show host and advertising representative for the station, said she won't be a mole on the board for Cable 6 - known for its sensational approach to local news.
"People who know me know better than that," she said. "I treat people like I would want them to treat me."
Elizabeth Stone, Henry County's registrar, said she's never experienced anything like the Horsepasture election in her 20-plus years with the registrar's office.
Here's how Buchanan won:
Tuesday night, incumbent Supervisor Simon Spencer came out ahead by one vote - 1,502 to Buchanan's 1,501.
Wednesday, as regular canvassing procedures were in progress, Henry County officials realized that a vote cast by a handicapped person was not counted.
The name of the voter - who cast a ballot from inside a car - wasn't recorded in poll books because busy precinct workers forgot, Stone said. So, when no one could remember the voter's name, the ballot wasn't opened. However, the voter's name was checked on a registered voter list before the ballot was walked to the car by a poll worker, Stone said.
A quick call Wednesday to the state Election Board confirmed that the vote was legal and should be added to the Horsepasture total.
The odds, of course, were still in Spencer's favor. He would win if the ballot had his name on it, and he still would win if there was a tie and his name was later drawn, as state law requires.
"I knew the odds were on his side," Buchanan said. "I just said to myself, if it's meant to be, it's meant to be."
The ballot had Buchanan's name on it. A little while later, her name was picked from the basket as the candidates watched.
"I felt sorry for Simon because I know that he went to bed Tuesday night knowing that he won the election," Buchanan said.
Said Spencer about the drawing: "You just wonder how you got to that point. I mean, gambling to decide the election never crossed my mind."
Spencer, vice principal at Fieldale-Collinsville High School, has hired an attorney and plans to petition Henry County Circuit Court for a recount.
He's also considering other options, including a legal challenge to the state law that spells out what to do in case of an election tie.
"It seems like a very archaic law to me," said Spencer, also an Independent. "I would hope that there would be more people interested in this than myself."
Buchanan wasn't the only Cable 6 employee seeking public office Tuesday. Ken Barnett, a technician at the station with nothing on his law enforcement resume other than a short stint as a military police officer, ran against incumbent county Sheriff Frank Cassell and lost.
Barnett got 25 percent of the vote.
During his campaign, Barnett ran a commercial on Cable 6 that showed Cassell's picture next to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler's and called Cassell's deputies "goose-stepping Gestapo." Earlier in the campaign, deputies had locked Cable 6 reporters out of a Cassell fund-raiser.
Cassell said his victory is a mandate against Cable 6.
Charles Roark, the station's manager, said Buchanan's victory speaks for itself.
"We're all over the place down here," Roark said.
Keywords:
ELECTION
by CNB