DATE: Thursday, November 6, 1997            TAG: 9711060443

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A15  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   99 lines

RECOUNT LOOMS IN CLOSE NORFOLK RACE; OUTCOME COULD ALTER CONTROL OF HOUSE

Beverly ``Bev'' Graeber has at least 12 relatives living in the area, none of whom could vote in Norfolk's 86th House District.

One Norfolk aunt lives just blocks away from the voting border, which is too bad for Graeber, who lost to Democrat Don Williams by eight powerful votes.

For Williams, one of those votes was waiting on Glendale Avenue in Norfolk.

Provedencia Mackey returned a call to Williams' campaign headquarters late Tuesday, saying she wanted to vote but didn't have a working car. A campaign worker drove her to Zion Grace Baptist Church 15 minutes before the polls closed. And she said she voted for Williams, a precious result for the campaign's efforts.

With Graeber's campaign still calling for a recount, the eight-vote difference Mackey helped create is now certified as far as the Norfolk Board of Elections is concerned.

If the result stands, it could be the closest race for the House of Delegates in local history.

The political makeup of the General Assembly also is at stake. As of Wednesday, the count was 51 Democrats and 48 Republicans in the House of Delegates, with one independent and either Graeber or Williams. Were Graeber to take the seat, the Democrats would be down to 50, losing their outright majority.

Questions arose early about the validity of the election. Del. J. Randy Forbes, a Chesapeake Republican who chairs the state GOP, said Wednesday that there appeared to be some ``crumpled ballots'' that voting machines may not have registered.

The GOP will make sure all legal avenues are explored in a recount, state Executive Director Chris Lacavita said Wednesday.

``What we want to see is a hand count,'' said Lacavita, who noted that one has never been conducted in Virginia.

M. Bruce Meadows, secretary of the State Board of Elections, said that in his three years at the post, ballots had never been hand-counted.

The only local race that was nearly as close was in 1983, when William S. ``Billy'' Moore defeated Morton V. Whitlow by 76 votes for the 79th District seat. After a recount one month later, Whitlow gained a single vote and Moore won again.

In 1991, a single vote in the 58th District in Northern Virginia gave candidate C.T. ``Tim'' Lindstrom a victory. More than a month later, a recount found eight more votes for Lindstrom's opponent, Peter T. Way, who went to Richmond.

With members from the Graeber and Williams camps seated in the Norfolk Circuit Court law library at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, the 86th District vote was the first one that the Norfolk elections board canvassed.

And after an hour, the vote was certified. The results were sent to the state elections board in Richmond late Wednesday. Graeber - 2,465. Williams - 2,473.

The official results won't be known until the Nov. 24 meeting of the state elections board. No recount can be considered afterward. Graeber then has 10 days to file for a recount. She said she plans to file with the clerk of the Norfolk Circuit Court.

Within seven days of the filing, the chief judge of the Circuit Court will call a preliminary hearing and set the date for the recount. Past recounts have taken up to two months.

``I feel this is an extremely close election and human error could have changed the results,'' Graeber said Wednesday. ``And I feel very strongly that the law says in close elections that you have a recount.

``I really feel what's at stake here is the integrity of the election process and to make sure the voters are well-served,'' she said.

A recount is allowed under state law when a difference of no more than 1 percent of the total votes cast separates two candidates. In the Graeber-Williams race, the difference is 0.16 percent.

In all likelihood, the city will be responsible for paying for the recount under state law. The city pays the cost of a General Assembly recount when the candidate petitioning for the recount is declared the winner or when the vote difference is no more than one-half of 1 percent - 0.50 percent - of the total votes cast.

At Williams' headquarters, where the phones were still being answered as ``Williams for Delegate,'' the staff was glowing Wednesday.

Mark Warren, Williams' campaign manager, said the margin might have sprung from a week of neighborhood canvassing.

``Beginning last Tuesday through Sunday, we re-canvassed the whole district and hit 1,873 voters at their homes,'' said Warren, who was running his first campaign.

On Tuesday night, eight votes was a slim margin for Williams. By Wednesday, it was a landslide, a major victory for a Democrat who wasn't supposed to be where he was.

``It's a monumental win,'' Williams said. ``It's a bigger win than eight. I didn't have the momentum that she had.

``As far as I'm concerned I won a big victory and I'm moving on to Richmond. I got a message from the clerk that I should head to Richmond on Dec. 4 for orientation. And I'm going.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

BILL TIERNAN/The Virginian-Pilot

The Norfolk elections board certified the 86th House District vote

Wednesday. Working on the results are Merle Brown, left, of the

voter registration office, and Julian F. Hirst and Jack Doyle of the

elections board. KEYWORDS: ELECTION RECOUNT

HOUSE OF DELEGATES RACE 86TH HOUSE DISTRICT

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