THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 2, 1995 TAG: 9511020369
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KATE HUNGER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
In the last month of registration for Tuesday's election, the number of voters on the rolls rose slightly in four of the five South Hampton Roads cities.
Only Virginia Beach saw a minor decline.
Chesapeake's voter registration increased 2 percent during the final reporting period before the Oct. 10 deadline to sign up.
Chesapeake registrar Virginia Garrett said the City Council races, 13th District Senate race and clerk of court race make it a ``very interesting ballot.''
``There's been a great deal of interest - much more than usual,'' Garrett said.
Portsmouth saw a 1.7 percent increase that registrar Dolores Overton said reflected the mailing of 30,000 canary-yellow voting information cards with residents' September water bills. The cards provided background on the candidates and explained voting procedures.
In Norfolk, figures provided by registrar Ann Washington showed an increase of 1.3 percent in the voting rolls. Washington attributed the jump to anticipation of next year's presidential race rather than Tuesday's General Assembly and clerk of court elections.
``We could not believe we were running out of cards,'' she said of the final registration day. ``People were in here all day long.''
Voter registration increased in two Norfolk precincts among those traditionally with the lowest turnout: Brambleton was up 5 percent, and Titustown increased 3.7 percent since the previous reporting period. Several weeks of registration drives on the Norfolk State University campus contributed to Brambleton's increase, Washington said. She was unsure what accounted for Titustown's increase.
In Suffolk, registration increased by about 1 percent in the last month. The busiest day was Oct. 10, when 80 people signed up.
``I thought it was slow for this type of election,'' Bremer said. ``I have no idea why.''
In Virginia Beach, registration fell less than one-half percent, according to figures provided by Registrar Marlene Hager.
The strong military presence in Virginia Beach makes it difficult to assess voter rolls, Hager said. Many service members who live in the city still vote in their home states. Others may have been transferred out of the area after voting in Virginia; their names will remain on the rolls until they miss four years of elections.
People can complete registration cards now, but their names won't be entered in the books until Wednesday - the day after the election.
Some of the increase in registration before the Oct. 10 deadline can be attributed to the large number of volunteers who worked throughout the region to sign up voters.
The Mill Creek and Elmwood Landing Civic League in Chesapeake's Deep Creek area registered 98 voters during a one-day drive in mid-September at a local grocery store. Member Caroline O'Rourke said the league plans to hold another drive in the spring - just in time for school board and City Council elections.
Registration was also up in Portsmouth's 9th Precinct, thanks to volunteer registrar Louis Ruffin.
``I saw the need,'' said Ruffin, a 63-year-old retired truck driver and former tenant council president.
Ruffin joined the ranks of Portsmouth's voter registration forces two years ago. For four hours on the second Monday and third Friday of every month, he registers voters at the Ida Barbour Community Center in Portsmouth. He has signed up 366 people there since January 1994.
Ruffin, who lives in the community, said he wants to make registration easy for public housing residents with disabilities or without transportation to other registration sites.
``There's a lot of hope lost in public housing,'' he said, ``and it's preventing people from doing their civic duty.''
Ruffin said the Million Man March in Washington last month boosted interest in voter registration. But the march came after the deadline to register for Tuesday's election.
``I didn't hear anything prior to the march,'' he said, ``but I've heard about it after the march. We're hoping to have a big turnout the first day the books are open because of the march.
``If you get motivated and interested in voting, maybe you can change the way things are,'' he said. ``It's a good feeling to be involved and feel like a citizen.''
KEYWORDS: VOTER REGISTRATION VOTING HAMPTON ROADS
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