THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 10, 1994                    TAG: 9406090169 
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON                     PAGE: 07    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: Jo-Ann Clegg 
DATELINE: 940610                                 LENGTH: Medium 

VOTE FOR ANYONE YOU PLEASE, BUT ONLY IN ONE BEACH PRIMARY

Mary Pat's interest stems from deeply held social and political convictions. My interest stems from a long held curiosity about how the political system works and why so many people within it don't.

{REST} At least not so much nor so well as they should.

Somewhere in our trip down the showcase - I think it may have been between the mustard potato salad and the honey ham - the subject turned to next Tuesday's Democratic senatorial primary and the curious Virginia law which governs it.

``Isn't it amazing,'' Mary Pat said, ``that you don't have to be a registered Democrat to vote in it?''

``And isn't it amazing,'' I replied, ``how few people know that?'' I did not see the need to add that every time there's a primary I'm one of those who needs to be reminded of the fact.

``I wonder,'' I mused as we passed the smoked turkey breast, ``how that came about?''

Being a seeker of obscure political facts, I decided to see what I could find out on the subject.

Who better to ask, I reasoned, than a history professor turned legislator turned political commentator.

I put in call to retired 2nd District Rep. Bill Whitehurst. Affable as ever, he was ready with answers to my questions almost before I could ask them.

So fast, in fact, and in such a fascinating way, that I found myself at the end of our conversation with about two lines of notes, none particularly decipherable.

It reminded me of being back in my own college listening to another great American history professor, Dr. Ralph Adams Brown.

I'd sit for 50 minutes, totally entranced, then walk out of the classroom, my head filled with visions of Jefferson hanging out at the Raleigh Tavern, Rachel Jackson trying for years to find her first husband so she could get a proper divorce or Edith Wilson running the White House in a manner that makes Hillary's co-presidency pale by comparison.

Unfortunately, I'd also walk out with an empty notebook because who in her right mind would waste time taking notes when you could listen to a fascinating speaker spin tales of great - and small - historical significance?

Listening to Whitehurst is like that, too. ``You're absolutely right that you don't have to be registered in the party to attend its caucus or vote in its primary,'' he told me.

``How come?'' I asked, throwing good grammar to the winds.

``Because in Virginia you don't state your party preference when you register,'' Whitehurst explained patiently.

``Huh?'' I asked, forgetting both my grammar and my manners this time.

``That goes back a long way,'' the former Republican congressman said. ``It has to do with the traditional strength of the Democratic party in Virginia.

``From Reconstruction days until about 1960 the party was so strong everywhere except in far southwest Virginia that there was no need to ask party preference when people registered to vote. The assumption was that everybody was a Democrat,'' he concluded.

Obviously, things have changed but the rules governing who can vote in primaries hasn't.

So does that mean that anyone - Republican or Democrat - can go to the polls next Tuesday and vote among the four Democratic candidates - Sylvia Clute, Virgil Goode, Chuck Robb and Nancy Spannaus?

The answer to that, if you live in Virginia Beach, is both yes and no.

According to Virginia Beach Voter Registrar Marlene Hager we have a slight complication.

Since there is also a Republican congressional contest between hopefuls Jim Chapman and Frank Wagner, voters are going to have to request either a Republican or Democrat ballot.

``The Code of Virginia says you can vote in the primary of your choice,'' Hager said, ``but you can't vote in both.

``By the way,'' she added, ``the people in the Centerville precinct won't have to make the choice because they're in the Fourth Congressional District and there's no Republican primary there.''

All of which makes for a very confusing situation in what is shaping up to be a most confusing election year in Virginia.

The way I see it, if you can't lick the confusion, at least participate in it. I'll be at the polls next Tuesday and I hope you will be, too. I just wish Dr. Brown were still around. I'd love to hear his assessment of Virginia politics, c.1994.

by CNB