THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 10, 1996 TAG: 9603080276
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: John Pruitt
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
As nerve-racking as any election deadline can be - Just ask any voter registrar - there's something wonderfully reassuring about the whole process. It's democracy or - especially if you happen to be focusing on rural areas - small-town Americana in forms not often manifest nowadays.
Tuesday night was the deadline for filing for May 7 local elections: school board, town council and city council. Although most people make their intentions known long before that cutoff, there's always the possibility of surprises.
For proof of that, look no farther than Virginia Beach, where voting officials were so overwhelmed by School Board candidates that they closed their offices before even certifying all of them.
If you thought the field of presidential-nomination seekers was crowded, consider the resort city's bounty of 50 School Board seekers. Maybe its ballot should just be a dart board or a ouija board; heaven knows it'll take some extraordinary measures for voters just to know who's who.
Of course, the stakes are too high for such a flip approach. Voting is serious business, and few people know that as well as residents of the Beach, where millions of School Board dollars allegedly have been squandered.
Before we get to the voting, though, there's a campaign. The election is May 7, and the voting registration deadline is April 8.
The registration process has been so simplified that you now can do it by mail and at DMV and other state offices. You also can register with any voter registrar in Virginia.
If you don't register, you can't vote. Some people like to say if you don't vote, you can't gripe about the way things are. We know how much weight that argument carries, but failing to vote certainly is shirking a responsibility and ignoring a hard-won right. Just don't do it.
Suffolk this go-around has contested races for City Council and School Board seats in Nansemond and Sleepy Hole boroughs.
In Whaleyville, both the council member and board member have a free ride, unless an unexpected write-in campaign is waged successfully. And that's about as likely as Councilman Curtis R. Milteer's declaring that Whaleyville no longer interests him.
Perhaps the most appealing aspect of the races is that they've attracted people who've never before ventured into politics but who care so deeply about Suffolk that they'll invest their time, energy and resources for offices that sometimes must seem to have as much aggravation as reward.
That's where we get back to the business of seeing democracy at full steam: candidates ranging from professional educators to retirees proclaiming that they have something to offer and that they want the Suffolk of the future to be something special.
It's interesting - and encouraging - that growth and municipal services are so often mentioned by the council candidates. (See the mini profiles that begin on page 3.)
They're vital issues, and they're certain to remain at the forefront as the city struggles to balance growth, which it just now is beginning to feel, with preserving what's good about a largely rural city.
It's encouraging, too, to see how committed the School Board candidates are to providing first-rate facilities and opportunities so our children can perform well in global competition.
At The Sun, we believe you are major stakeholders in these elections. Through formal community conversations, informal discussions and ever-welcome letters and phone calls, you'll help us cover this election in ways that matter most to you.
Success will mean you want to be part of this democratic process and that you're able to make the most informed choices you've ever made at the polls. by CNB