THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 11, 1994 TAG: 9411100167
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY PATRICIA HUANG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 142 lines
``BASICALLY, when it comes to elections, the way I see it, they're all on a stage, and you don't know how they're really going to act until they're voted in,'' declared Gloria Hall, 38, on her way into Camelot Elementary School to vote Tuesday.
Hall said she would have liked to have heard more during the campaign about the budget, tax breaks, education and youth programs. But it was election day, and she was going to have to make a decision.
She was less than 100 feet away from the polls and she still hadn't fully made up her mind who was going to get her vote.
Hall, a real estate agent, was stopping to vote between seeing clients. As she waited her turn in line, her cellular phone rang. ``Hello?'' she answered. ``I'm getting ready to vote for . . . I don't know who.''
Hall said she was originally a supporter of former Gov. Douglas Wilder. ``I saw how he got us out of the red,'' she said. Lately, she had begun to believe that Sen. Charles Robb was ``the lesser of two evils.''
She didn't think Chesapeake's road bond referendum sounded like such a good idea.
``Whenever I think of a referendum, I always think of a tax increase. We need to prioritize.'' Hall said, looking across the street to her Camelot neighborhood. ``We have 1,200 houses out here, and we have no recreation facilities for the kids except for that.'' She pointed towards the school's small playground area.
``If we ran our houses the way they run the government, someone would be knocking on our doors, telling us to get out of our houses and asking for our car keys.''
ON HER WAY into the voting precinct at Camelot Elementary School, Julia Williams, 52, took two campaign flyers that poll workers thrust into her hands. She looked them over as she walked slowly to the door of the polling place.
She studied the blue one. ``Vote Republican . . . for our families . . . for our future,'' it said. She crumbled it into a ball in her hand and dropped it into a trash can outside the school. Then she took a second longer to look at the yellow one, which had the names of Charles S. Robb and Norman Sisisky printed on it.
``I'm a Democratic voter usually, but I do have concerns about Robb,'' Williams said. She never considered Oliver North. She said she couldn't trust him because of his involvement in the Iran-Contra affair.
VERNON JOHNSON and C.C. Hawkins were flanking volunteer campaign workers outside the door of the Camelot precinct polling place. They passed out a flyers on white sheets of paper with a slightly different agenda.
The flyers urged residents of the Camelot and Kingstowne neighborhoods to fight to save property values by attending next Tuesday's City Council meeting to get involved in a rezoning issue that they said could take potential recreation space away from neighborhood children.
Regarding the election, Johnson, 40, a Robb supporter, said he was pleased with the day's voter participation. ``North is counting on blacks not showing up at the polls today,'' he said. ``Well, you know what? He's in for a big surprise.''
OVER AT WESTERN BRANCH MIDDLE SCHOOL in Silverwood precinct, North campaign volunteers were decked out in bright red clothes, passing out campaign flyers for voters to ponder as they walked the last 50 feet to the voting booths.
J. Michael Dick was with his wife, Hope, and 4-month-old daughter, Jamie. Both North supporters, the couple said that they felt the federal government was ``far too intrusive in our day-to-day lives.''
They said they voted against all three amendments to the state Constitution.
AT PROVIDENCE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST on Vicker Avenue, voters were confused by a sign on the exit door that read ``Entrance.'' The sign had an arrow pointing around the corner to another door, but the tinted glass in the door obscured its meaning. Voters kept trying to enter through the exit.
Nathaniel Handy was about to step into a car when he stopped to give his views on the election.
``Everybody knows that North's a felon. But you got these crazy people voting for him anyway,'' Handy said. ``Then you got George Allen putting his arm around North when he says he going to be tough and eliminate parole. North's a criminal. He should be in jail, but he got off because of a technicality.''
Handy said he voted for Robb and cast his ballot in favor of the city's road bond referendum.
``I wouldn't mind paying a little more in taxes for good roads. We have to preserve what we have,'' Handy said. As for those who complain of local tax increase, he said, ``If you live in a big, growing city, you're going to pay taxes.''
THE LINE OF VOTERS already extended far out the door at Western Branch's Providence United Church of Christ by about 10:30 a.m.
``This is so good to see,'' said Julia Hoffler, 69. ``People are so apathetic, but this is a good turnout. I always vote. I even dragged myself up one time when I was sick.''
Hoffler, who said she's worried about crime in her neighborhood, planned to vote for independent candidate J. Marshall Coleman. She said she still wasn't sure about the road bond referendum.
``As far as the road bond goes, everything seems to be down in Great Bridge, and I'm sick of being a stepchild,'' she said. ``You know, I think I might leave that one blank.''
SOME VOTERS, like Bobby Goodman, 50, a retired federal employee who lives on Dunedin Drive, wished they could be more supportive of the road bond referendum.
``I hope I might change my mind before I go in there,'' Goodman said, as he waited in line outside the Providence United Church of Christ precinct. ``But I'm afraid I'm going to have to vote it down. People are already paying vast amount of taxes and we still have to wait more than three years to get a traffic light on Bruin Drive.'' ILLUSTRATION: Chart
Chesapeake [Election Results]
For copy of chart, see microfilm or Library clip files
(ELECTION--CHESAPEAKE)
LOCAL VOTERS EXPRESS THEIR VIEWS
Photos
``I hope I might change my mind before I go in there. But I'm afraid
I'm going to have to vote it (road bonds) down. People are already
paying vast amount of taxes . . .''
Bobby Goodman
Providence Church precinct
As far as the road bond goes, everything seems to be down in Great
Bridge, and I'm sick of being a stepchild. You know, I think I might
leave that one blank.''
Julia Hoffler
Western Branch
The federal government is ``far too intrusive in our day-to-day
lives.''
J. Michael Dick
Silverwood precinct
KEYWORDS: VOTING ELECTION RESULTS
U.S. SENATE RACE CONGRESSIONAL RACE
by CNB