THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 2, 1994 TAG: 9411020665
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 123 lines
Kay Woodley will be operating a bucket dredge in Baltimore Harbor on Election Day. Marion Keeter will be undergoing minor surgery. And Jerry Hart will be in London on Nov. 8.
But all three Norfolk residents will have their votes count in Tuesday's election, adding to what could be a record number of absentee ballots cast in a Virginia election for the U.S. Senate.
``This is such a dilemma - this election,'' said Hart, 64, who brought his airline tickets to Norfolk's registrar's office on Tuesday to prove he'd be out of town. ``But I still feel it's my duty to express my opinion.''
Short-term expatriates throughout Hampton Roads are voting by absentee ballot in droves this year. That's an indication that voter turnout may be heavy in the Senate and congressional elections - and a positive sign after a negative Senate race that some thought would turn voters off, not on.
``My great fear early on in the campaign was that the race would unduly heighten public cynicism towards politics and lead to a reduced turnout, neither of which are healthy in a democracy,'' said Thomas R. Morris, a political scientist and president of Emory & Henry College in Emory, Va. ``Thus far, however, that does not seem to be the case.
``There's some hard decisions that have to be made,'' he said. ``What it means, I think, is that a good number of voters this year will have to cast their ballots for someone about whom they havedeep reservations but nevertheless represent the lesser of two - or three - evils.''
Many experts are saying the vote in this year's Senate race will come close but won't equal the record-setting number cast in South Hampton Roads in the 1992 presidential election.
As of Tuesday, the city of Norfolk had received 1,022 absentee ballots. The deadline for such voting is 7 p.m. on Election Day. In 1990, the last year the state elected a senator, Norfolk voters cast 358 absentee ballots.
In Virginia Beach, where extra workers have been added to handle a daily average of about 100 absentee voters, registrars have received 2,250 ballots. In 1990, Virginia Beach recorded 882 absentee votes.
``Business is very brisk,'' said one assistant registrar in Norfolk. ``People are serious about this election.''
Some experts believe the Senate race involving candidates J. Marshall Coleman, Oliver L. North and Charles S. Robb has galvanized voters.
``For an election other than the presidential, it's extremely heavy,'' said Ginny Garrett, Chesapeake's registrar. ``In the last 10 years, I don't recall a Senate election generating this much interest or this many absentee ballots. It's going to be a good election.''
Virginia Beach Registrar Marlene Hager predicts that about 90,000 voters will go to the polls in her city, based on the number of citizens voting by absentee ballot.
Some campaigns are helping to generate this wave. Hager said the 2nd Congressional District campaigns of Jim Chapman and incumbent Rep. Owen B. Pickett have been sending letters to out-of-town college students, encouraging them to vote by absentee ballot.
John Glennon, chairman of the government department at the College of William and Mary, said strong absentee voting ``does heavily foreshadow a heavy turnout on Election Day.''
``We tend to see high turnout when the indication is that it's a close race,'' he said. ``One of the byproducts of the level of voter dissatisfaction with government has been for a lot of people to turn out and vote against everything they can think of.
``While there may be some increase in participation this year, the traditional factors of a close race and a clear choice, to me, seem better explanations'' for the heavy turnout, he said.
``You do have a setting with the North-Robb contest that involves both a great deal of opposition to one candidate and support for the other,'' said Earl Black, a political scientist at Rice University in Houston who specializes in Southern politics. ``Under those conditions, where someone really likes A and despises B, that would be the context under which absentee balloting might rise.
``These are polarizing candidates,'' he added, referring to North and Robb. ``People who feel strongly but can't be there on Election Day will take the extra effort to cast the absentee vote.''
One such voter is 66-year-old Marion Keeter, who is to undergo cataract surgery on Tuesday. ``If it had been Coleman and Robb,'' she said, ``I wouldn't have worried about it.''
``I feel it's important, because I have a very strong opinion on the candidates this year,'' she said outside the Norfolk registrar's office. ``That's why I'm here today - so that my vote will count.''
Jerry Hart agreed with that sentiment. ``I can't believe that the state that calls itself `The Birthplace of Presidents' would have these candidates,'' he said. ``I wouldn't miss this one. . . .
``It's only one vote,'' he added, ``but it's mine.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
WANT TO VOTE?
Applications for those wishing to vote by absentee ballot must be
received by 5 p.m. Thursday. Some offices accept applications by
fax. Check with your local registrar's office.
You may cast an absentee ballot in person. The last day to do so is
Saturday, when all registrars' offices will be open from 9 a.m. to
5 p.m. Absentee voters have until 7 p.m. on Election Day - Tuesday
- to return their ballots. Contact your registrar's office for more
information.
Norfolk 441-2528
Virginia Beach 427-4667
Chesapeake 547-6141
Portsmouth 393-8644
Suffolk 925-6391
Isle of Wight 357-3191
Franklin 562-8545
Southampton 653-9280
Northampton 678-0480
Accomack 787-2935
KEYWORDS: U.S. SENATE RACE VIRGINIA CANDIDATES VOTING
VOTER REGISTRATION by CNB