THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 9, 1996 TAG: 9605090372
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LISE OLSEN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 111 lines
As Persie Stagg drove through the rain in Hollywood on Tuesday, no voter was safe from him.
Stagg was on a mission to take voters in the south Suffolk precinct to the polls - no excuses accepted. One woman tried to say she wasn't ready, but Stagg had an answer for her.
``I know you're ready - I registered you,'' said Stagg, who recruited voters for months as a volunteer for Suffolk candidate Leroy Bennett. He personally hauled voters to the polls for several hours Tuesday.
Because of individual efforts like this, and the opportunity to make Bennett the first African American to represent Nansemond borough, voters in south Suffolk participated in amazing numbers Tuesday. The turnout was 94.3 percent in the Nansemond River precinct and 88.7 percent in the Hollywood precinct, both of which have black majorities.
Those two areas led the region in getting out to vote, despite a cold, driving rain that drenched poll workers outside and forced frequent moppings inside some polling places. Precincts in Portsmouth and Suffolk had the highest turnout, with voters in black-majority precincts participating in huge numbers to make a difference in the Nansemond borough race and Portsmouth's mayoral contest.
``This election was the most dedicated turnout that I have ever witnessed for the inclement weather,'' said Ethel D. Eley, a Suffolk civic leader who has worked the polls for years.
Because of Suffolk's ward system, Tuesday's election was open to only a portion of the city's registered voters. But 61 percent of those who were eligible to vote did. That compares with 33 percent in Suffolk in 1994 municipal races.
Turnout also was strong citywide in Portsmouth, up to 47 percent from about 40 percent in 1994.
But it was most impressive in a handful of majority-black districts in both cities.
In Suffolk and Portsmouth, African-American voters especially were motivated by dynamic black challengers: James Holley, a former mayor who regained his job by unseating incumbent Gloria Webb in Portsmouth, and Bennett, a civic league leader who pounded a lot of pavement in his quest to unseat Suffolk Councilman Richard R. Harris.
As a result, voters in precincts in those two cities dominate a list of those with the most turnout. Norfolk's Lafayette Library precinct was the only one in any other city to make the top 10.
Registered voters in Chesapeake, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach turned out in lesser numbers. The figures - 35 percent in Chesapeake, 27 percent in Virginia Beach and 26 percent in Norfolk - were similar to 1994 municipal turnout figures.
In Portsmouth, voting was up in nearly all precincts from 1994. In the majority-white precincts, turnout averaged 46 percent, up seven percentage points. In the majority-black precincts, it was 47 percent, up 10 percentage points.
Holley, a mayor in the '80s who was recalled after a hate-mail scandal, was helped by impressive turnouts in several black-majority precincts - especially his own, Lakeview Elementary. There, 60 percent of the registered voters went to the polls, and 90 percent voted for Holley.
Joseph R. Wright, president of Cavalier Manor Civic League, said Holley had people calling residents throughout the neighborhood reminding them to vote.
``He's flamboyant, plus he has a sense of politics; he's a master of the game,'' Wright said.
Throughout Portsmouth, only one of 12 of the voting precincts with majority-black voters chose Webb over Holley - the Fairview Heights Baptist Church precinct.
And Webb failed to get more than 80 percent support from any of the 30 precincts in the city, while Holley received that share of the vote in eight of the city's majority-black precincts. Competition from a third candidate, Frank A. Harte, helped keep Webb's numbers from reaching that level elsewhere in the city.
``The African-American precincts just came out in force,'' said Portsmouth's registrar, Delores Overton. ``Churchland had 3,400 voters, and not many came out.'' Turnout in the precinct that Overton describes was 41 percent - healthy compared with that in other cities but far below the 60 percent mark reached in the Lakeview Elementary precinct.
Yet, voters in Suffolk's Nansemond River and Hollywood precincts led the way.
``I'm almost sure the Lord would have something to do with this election. They were out there with their umbrellas!'' Eley said. MEMO: Staff writer Toni Whitt contributed to this story.
ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
THE HIGHEST TURNOUTS
Precincts where turnout was highest in South Hampton Roads:
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
KEYWORDS: ELECTION TIDEWATER ELECTION HAMPTON ROADS
VOTING RESULTS RETURNS by CNB