THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 5, 1996 TAG: 9605030474
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 168 lines
Joyce Hodges is a smart and dedicated voter.
The mother of four and nurse at Virginia Beach General Hospital has voted in every election since she turned 18.
She has spent hours in the last month trying to learn as much as she could about the 43 people running for School Board, squeezing out time between work and running a household of preschool-to high school-age children at the height of their soccer season.
Come Tuesday, she'll head into the voting booth, having trimmed the candidates list down to seven people. But making the cut hasn't been easy.
``Overwhelming is putting it mildly. These at-large races are about to kill me,'' Hodges said last week. ``There's no way you can be as informed as you want to be. I understand why some (voters) are afraid of this one.''
Dedicating even two minutes to study each candidate eats up an hour and a half. Forums have been unwieldy and sparsely attended, with candidates sometimes outnumbering those in the audience.
The ballot, including School Board and City Council races and a referendum question, is nine pages long: Turn the page or you'll miss candidates. But remember some of those listed have withdrawn from the race.
How will this huge cast of characters affect the outcome? Turnout may be low and a relatively small number of voters could make the difference between winning and losing. So name recognition and well-organized special interests may have an edge. But don't look for any citywide mandates.
Experts say the number of people running combined with the tendency among Americans to want their candidates easily distinguished and quickly understood likely will impact who votes and how they vote May 7. And it could well produce a school board in the state's second largest system with members chosen by a few thousand voters at most.
``A long ballot makes very little sense,'' said University of Virginia government professor Larry Sabato. ``A long ballot assumes voters have unlimited time and a willingness to spend that time on politics.
``And it's just not true.''
Two years ago, when the city held its first School Board election, 25 candidates ran for a total of six seats. About 30 percent of the city's registered voters participated, with one candidate winning by fewer than 2,000 votes.
This time around, with almost twice as many people running, there is the real possibility that someone could win with 5,000 votes or less - particularly in the four-year at-large race where 22 people are running for two seats. In the two-year at-large race, 13 candidates are running.
Four are vying for the Lynnhaven Borough, two for Princess Anne. The Blackwater and Beach boroughs are unopposed.
``For a lot of them, there will be very few votes to differentiate between who gets on and who doesn't get on,'' said Jacqueline Danzberger of the Institute for Educational Leadership in Washington, D.C.
Nonpartisan spring elections traditionally have low turnouts, and if voters don't believe they can make an informed choice, they may well make no choice at all.
Sabato said many voters may decide, ``If I don't know what I'm doing, I'm not going to do it.''
Thus, political science and education experts say, the most likely winners will be those who have high name recognition, a reputation in the community, or, quite frankly, a lot of motivated family members, friends and other supporters who get to the polls. Support from special interest groups, such as the religious right or the teachers association, could be key.
``This is the opportunity for the well-organized minority to shine,'' said John McGlennon, a government professor at the College of William and Mary who specializes in state and local politics.
The large field also means voters are more likely to look for endorsements and other ties to the candidates to help them narrow the field.
``It makes (voters) look very carefully at where they're going to get their cues,'' said Robert Holsworth, director of the Center for Public Policy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Endorsements don't necessarily decide who wins, ``but they do affect who gets considered.''
What is unlikely to emerge from the choices citizens make, however, is a mandate.
``In an election of this kind, it will be very difficult to get a clear picture of what most Virginia Beach voters want in their School Board,'' McGlennon said.
Voters say they know what they want; they're just struggling against the masses of candidates to figure out whom they want.
Beach resident Amy Courtney said she's probably spent 12 to 16 hours reading about the candidates and discussing them with friends. And still she's not sure how she'll vote.
``It's a prime topic of conversation. Most of the people I've talked with share the same concerns,'' she said. People try to read and analyze information, but ``by the time they've gotten to the 20th one, they can't remember who they've read about.''
``I'm very confused. I feel overwhelmed by the numbers. I feel we will be affected by special interest groups because special interest groups will come to the polls,'' Courtney said. ``I'm going to try to make a decision before going to the polls. I don't want to just go in there and pick a name. But that's what I'm very close to doing. That's very disheartening.''
The Beach schools have had a turbulent year - part of the reason for this surfeit of candidates. Even if the appointed incumbent who is running wins election, the board would have a total of three years' combined experience, and the superintendent has been in that post for less than six months. The need for savvy people who can come up to speed and learn to work together quickly makes this election particularly critical.
Fairfax County voters struggled with a similar problem last November when 35 candidates ran for 12 seats in the first board election there. Only three appointed incumbents ran.
A group of more than 40 local organizations, led by a steering committee, formed the School Board Election Coalition for Fairfax County in an effort to help educate voters. The coalition held 10 forums, one of which was televised, and helped hand out information through the participating organizations.
``People were desperate for information because they didn't know any of these (candidates),'' said Connie Houston, who represented the League of Women Voters on the steering committee.
Voters felt overwhelmed and worried that stealth candidates, those with hidden agendas, might slip by for lack of scrutiny.
Although the group spread information throughout the county, Houston said some people still were unprepared when Election Day came around.
``I think some people went into the booth not knowing what they were doing,'' she said. ``Some voted for the first three people (on the ballot). Some voted for one, thought `Oh my God, I don't know what I'm doing,' and didn't vote for the others.''
Houston said there is a limit to what others can do to provide voters with information.
``We wanted to make sure people knew what they were doing. We took our best shot at that,'' she said. ``But voters really have to sort out who these people are and what their positions are.''
Two of the most likely outcomes of uninformed or overwhelmed voters are both bad for the democratic process - that they will use the eenie-meenie-minie-mo method of selecting or that they'll stay home altogether.
``Voters may spend their choices early. If ballot order is alphabetical, that can be a problem,'' McGlennon said. And others may decide that the ``costs are higher than they're willing to pay'' when it comes to the work involved in sifting through the candidates.
Those who do venture to the polls are likely to be barraged with sample ballots, fliers and other information being handed out by the candidates and their supporters.
Delceno C. Miles, who is in the unusual position of being an appointed incumbent as well as unopposed for the Blackwater borough seat, said she too has had to do her homework to decide which candidates would get her vote.
She's had the advantage of getting to know some of them on the campaign trail and has been studying the field since the filing deadline, but still has not made up her mind on one of the seats, showing just how tough the choices are.
As a Beach resident and as one of those who will work most closely with Tuesday's victors, Miles is anxious for all voters to educate themselves and get to the polls.
``Voting is just the act,'' she said. ``You have to do your homework. You just can't choose somebody because you saw their sign.'' ILLUSTRATION: JANET SHAUGHNESSY/Staff
Graphic
WADING THROUGH THE SEA OF FACES
Here are some questions you might consider asking in weighing your
choices in Tuesday's elections:
1. What's most important to you - issues or character?
2. Which candidate most agrees with your ideas on the issues?
Which issues are more important to you than others?
3. What qualities do you look for in a candidate?
4. How important are the candidate's past community activities?
5. Are there groups whose endorsements you trust?
6. Who would serve my interests best over the long run?
KEYWORDS: ELECTION VIRGINIA BEACH VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOL BOARD RACE
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