DATE: Saturday, November 22, 1997           TAG: 9711220362

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   81 lines

DEMOCRAT IS GOING TO RICHMOND, BUT RIVAL HASN'T CONCEDED

While Democrat Donald L. Williams prepares to go to Richmond to claim the 86th District House seat, Republican Beverly ``Bev'' Graeber is waiting in the wings in hopes of sending him home.

On Monday, the state Board of Elections will announce official results of the Nov. 4 elections, three weeks after Williams emerged as the locally declared winner of the Norfolk House seat by a mere eight votes.

Graeber, whose home telephone still contains a recording identifying the number as the Graeber for Delegate headquarters, has promised to seek a vote recount if the state board certifies the local results.

There is a possibility that Graeber could pull the House seat from under Williams, an outcome that would alter the balance of political power in the House of Delegates.

Since 1982, nine candidates running for the Virginia General Assembly have petitioned for a vote recount, and in seven of those cases the vote count changed, in one instance by about 90 votes.

In two of those races, both occurring in 1991, the election outcome was reversed by the recount, state election documents show.

``I haven't conceded yet, because I haven't lost yet, not with eight votes - that's awfully close,'' Graeber said Friday. ``I just want to make sure the integrity of the election process is upheld.''

Williams, meanwhile, is packing his bags. The clerk of the House of Delegates, he said, has notified him to report to freshman orientation Dec. 4, and has made other preparations for his arrival.

``As far as the General Assembly is concerned, I'm going to Richmond,'' Williams said. ``My stationery has been ordered, my business cards have been ordered, they've picked out my office, they've assigned my seat on the floor. I am the delegate-elect. It's up to her to prove differently.''

If the state Board of Elections upholds the local election count, Graeber has up to 10 days to petition Norfolk's Circuit Court for a recount. Because past recounts have taken up to two months, Williams, who expects to be sworn into office Jan. 14, could have begun serving his term before the issue is resolved.

M. Bruce Meadows, secretary of the state Board of Elections, said the state board certifies the Nov. 4 results by relying on precinct vote counts sent to it by local elections officials, not by looking at the ballots actually cast.

``We go over them again and add the numbers, basically double- and triple-checking what they send us,'' Meadows said.

The official ballots, he said, are in the hands of local circuit courts.

Because the state board uses the same results tallied by local elections officials, the board in all likelihood will certify the results, said Ray Allen Jr., a partner in the Marcus & Allen political consulting firm of Richmond and a Graeber campaign adviser.

But Allen said he is convinced that an official recount of the ballots will change the vote tally. He would not elaborate, saying those details would be laid out during the recounting process.

``I am not at all convinced that this election was decided by eight votes,'' Allen said. ``We intend with all vigor to establish what the proper count is. These things frequently change. After all, it is human beings doing this on Election Day.''

A day after the election, state Del. J. Randy Forbes, a Chesapeake Republican who chairs the Virginia GOP, questioned the results, saying there appeared to be some ``crumpled ballots'' that voting machines may not have registered.

However, Ann Washington, Norfolk's voter registrar, said local elections officials were ``just mystified'' by Forbes' claim.

Washington said there was ``zero chance'' that fraud could have occurred at the polls. She conceded, however, that it was possible that human error or a malfunctioning voting machine could have altered the count.

``It is not a perfect process,'' Washington said.

The outcome has a significance that goes well beyond the 86th District, which consists of a slice of Norfolk from Ocean View to Larchmont. In the state House of Delegates, Democrats now hold a marginal 51-48 edge over Republicans; there's one independent.

If Graeber prevailed, the Democrats would drop to 50, losing their outright majority. The GOP gained an edge in the Senate with the election of Republican John Hager as lieutenant governor, who will be the tie breaker in a chamber that is split 20-20 between the major parties. ILLUSTRATION: Photos

Democrat Donald L. Williams, left, and Republican Beverly ``Bev''

Graeber are waiting for the state Board of Elections to announce

official results Monday from the Nov. 4 elections.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu