THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 8, 1995 TAG: 9510080029
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
It was during the last presidential campaign that the elderly couple came into Wallace J. Drake's auto body shop.
They were in a small line at Drake's Auto Service Inc. on South Birdneck Road in Virginia Beach to register to vote. But the man, 69, and his wife, 67, kept letting other people go ahead.
``We don't mind, we're in no hurry,'' Drake remembers the man saying.
To himself he wondered: ``What's wrong with them folks?''
When everyone else had left, the couple finally approached him.
``They came up and said they couldn't read or write,'' Drake said.
Drake helped them fill out the registration forms and told them where to go vote. He doesn't know how they figured out which holes to punch for their candidate, but they were determined to help pick the next president, Drake said.
Maybe, when the so-called Motor Voter law takes effect in March, Hampton Roads residents will no longer need to visit auto body shops, upholsterers and grocery stores to register.
The law will require the state to register voters at motor-vehicle and social-services offices and by mail to the division of motor vehicles.
But for now, as the deadline to register approaches, would-be voters are trickling in to businesses across the region to add their names to city registration lists.
Tuesday is the last day to register to vote in the Nov. 7 elections. All 140 seats in the state Senate and House will be up for grabs, as well as other local posts and several bond referenda.
Virginia Beach has five private businesses that provide voter registration; Norfolk offers voter registration throughout the year at 10 businesses ranging from Stith Upholstering in Campostella, to Kay's Alterations in East Ocean View, to Frank Spicer Co. in Ghent.
Drake, like many business owners who received training to register people to vote, said he does it because he cares about his Seatack community.
``I was raised up in Seatack,'' Drake said. ``I got a little education, and I thought I'd give something back to the people in Seatack both in the registrations and in business.''
Charles Guthrie of Lynnhaven Marine, on West Great Neck Road, also in Virginia Beach, said he too grew up in the neighborhood where his business now stands, and he also offers registration as a contribution to his community.
The businesses are paid $1 for every person they register - not nearly enough, they say, to cover the cost of training employees to administer the oath and fill out the paperwork. But the business owners don't seem to mind.
``We don't make any great money doing it, it's just a convenience for friends, neighbors and customers,'' Guthrie said.
About 4,200 people have registered in Norfolk so far this year. Virginia Beach averages between 7,000 and 9,000 per year in a non-presidential year and as many as 36,000 new registrants during a presidential election year.
There are a lot of registering options in those cities - voter registrars work hard to ensure that everyone who wants to vote gets the chance. People could register last weekend at the Neptune Festival down at the Oceanfront; every school in Virginia Beach accepts registrations, as do all the branch libraries at the Beach and in Norfolk.
But many people still prefer familiar neighborhood shops and stores that stay open past 5 p.m.
Some of those who come to her store don't have cars, so they need to register close to home, said Edith Farrell, the bookkeeper at Stith Upholstering on Campostella Road in Norfolk.
``A lot of younger people have come here to register to vote,'' said Farrell, who said she always votes herself.
``Most of them live in the area, or maybe they are coming in concerning some furniture.''
C.J. Ansell, owner of C.J. Ansell Grocery on Princess Anne Road in the rural Pungo section of Virginia Beach said he gets people on weekends or in the evenings when other registration centers have closed.
``We have people that drive down here because we're here on Saturday - and that's when they can get off and register,'' he said. ``And sometimes they just want to ride out in the country.''
Ansell, who has been offering voter registration for so long that he can't remember if it's been 15 or 20 years, said he doesn't get as many folks as he used to.
``We're kind of down here in the sticks, out of the way,'' he said. Most of the locals registered a long time ago and, unlike the northern part of the city, have no intention of moving. In other parts of the city people have registration locations much closer to home.
Registration is picking up a little bit now because the election's getting so close, Ansell said, but it takes a presidential race, or a hot local one to make his customers pay much attention to politics.
``They don't seem to get that excited over the senate races,'' he said. ``(The election) hasn't set the world on fire this time. . . . Nobody's talking much.'' by CNB