THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 5, 1996 TAG: 9611050266
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVE ADDIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 132 lines
Let's dispel several mysteries about today's presidential election.
So you think that when you push a pin into a piece of cardboard - if you're of the loyal group who bothers to vote at all - your squeaky little voice will be heard across the land, proclaiming your choice for leader of the Free World. The guy you personally want to take the blame if the economy goes into the dumper, or somebody tries to sell crack to your kid, or if crabgrass overruns your lawn.
Not quite.
Most of you who live in Norfolk or Virginia Beach will be voting for either of two Beach lawyers, Gary Byler or Judy Rosenblatt.
Gary wha. . . '? Judy whozis. . . ?
Depending on who pulls the most votes in Virginia - Bob Dole or Bill Clinton, and right now the polls say it's too close to call - it will be Byler or Rosenblatt who actually casts your vote for president. They are the 2nd Congressional District's nominees to the Electoral College.
You remember the Electoral College. It was that essay question you left blank on your eighth-grade civics final. Since then, you think about it only on Election Night, when Peter Jennings totals a jumble of numbers on a state map and tells you who the president is.
Each of those numbers represents a real person, usually somebody active in local party politics. In the 2nd District, those faces belong to Gary C. Byler and Judith L. Rosenblatt.
Byler, the Republican, was an elector four years ago, when George Bush carried Virginia. He has a certificate with a gold seal on the wall of his law office to prove it.
Rosenblatt, the Democrat, believes Clinton will carry the state for the Democrats, the first candidate to do so since Lyndon Johnson destroyed Barry Goldwater in 1964.
``It's exciting,'' she said. ``It didn't take much to talk me into doing it.''
Presidential electors, formally, are chosen at their party's congressional-district convention. In Rosenblatt's case it was a little less formal. Her law partner, Democratic Party avatar Ken Geroe, sort of yelled across the hall to her, ``Hey, Judy, you want to do this?''
``He had to pick somebody,'' Rosenblatt said. Geroe's choice was confirmed by the party in May.
``There aren't 5 percent of us who know how all this works,'' said Rosenblatt, a longtime party activist and avowed future General Assembly candidate.
Byler had two opponents. He won, even though he didn't attend the GOP's local convention.
``I always say it's the perfect state elective office for me,'' he said. ``It takes about 20 minutes every four years to fulfill the duties.''
The results of the popular vote in Virginia will decide which party's slate of electors gets to vote for president and vice president. The electors meet in their state capitals the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December after the presidential election.
Last time, Byler said, they did some quick housekeeping chores, voted on a white slip of paper and dropped the paper ceremoniously into a glass bowl. The results were sent to Washington and added to the results from the other state capitals to confirm Clinton's victory.
Byler or Rosenblatt will be among 538 members of the Electoral College, 13 from Virginia. Each state gets one elector for each congressional district and one for each of its senators. Washington, D.C., gets three, just so its residents' votes can count for something. It takes a majority - 270 - to claim the presidency.
Byler, with just the softest of prods, can run you through a whole litany of constitutional peculiarities and ugly political begattings that could happen if the Electoral College tally ended in a tie. Or if just a handful of electors turned renegade and voted for somebody they weren't supposed to vote for.
It's all too convoluted and horrific to speculate about here. The electors, the Constitution says, are ``expected'' to vote for their party's candidate for president and vice president. But the fuzziness of the word ``expected'' leaves a gap wide enough for a lawyer to drive a truckload of briefs through.
``Actually, I can vote for any damned person I want to,'' Byler said. ``I could vote for myself if I wanted. People have done that from time to time. They get a little asterisk in the history books.''
In 1990, he said, all sorts of ``fringe parties and nut cases'' tried to get him to cast his electoral vote for somebody other than George Bush. Byler, who worked for the Reagan White House in the early '80s, didn't bite.
Four smaller parties - Reform, Libertarian, Taxpayers and Natural Law - have also filed a slate of electors. Since it's winner-take-all, they aren't likely to be sending anyone to Richmond in December.
And what does an elector receive for the effort? The pay is $50 for one day's work in December, plus mileage for the trip to Richmond.
That, and a certificate with a gold seal, and a sense of having played a small, but important, role in a large, and important, event. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
Gary Byler, left, and Judy Rosenblatt, right, are the 2nd District's
electors. If Dole wins in Virginia, Byler goes to Richmond to cast
his vote; if it's Clinton, Rosenblatt makes the trip to cast hers.
WHO ARE OUR ELECTORS
Electoral College slates for Hampton Roads congressional districts:
DEMOCRATIC PARTY
1st District: Aubrey C. Sullivan, Falmouth
2nd District: Judith L. Rosenblatt, Virginia Beach
3rd District: Michael C. Melvin, Newport News
4th District: Leo F. ``Buddy'' Sharpe Jr., Portsmouth
REPUBLICAN PARTY
1st District: Robert R. Fountain, Montross
2nd District: Gary Clarence Byler, Virginia Beach
3rd District: Mary A. ``Polly'' Braswell, Newport News
4th District: Patricia Strawn Bice, Petersburg
VIRGINIA TAXPAYERS PARTY
1st District: Noble C. Brann, Callao
2nd District: Kenneth W. Lancaster, Virginia Beach
3rd District: William E. Potter, Charles City
4th District: Herbert W. Titus, Chesapeake
LIBERTARIAN PARTY
1st District: Sanford J. Pankin, Hampton
2nd District: Henry T. Thrasher, Virginia Beach
3rd District: Keith E. Kennedy, Quinton
4th District: Lennice F. Werth, Crewe
NATURAL LAW PARTY
1st District: Martin W. Bartelt, Newport News
2nd District: Chilton Wayne Mahin, Virginia Beach
3rd District: Kathleen A. Wurdeman, Richmond
4th District: Jeanette F. Snead, Petersburg
VIRGINIA REFORM PARTY
1st District: E. Alfred Picardi, Belle Haven
2nd District: William D.D. McKenzie, Virginia Beach
3rd District: Samuel J. Scott Sr., Hampton
4th District: Carolyn A. Taylor, Chesapeake
KEYWORDS: ELECTORAL COLLEGE PRESIDENTIAL RACE by CNB