Voter madness

By Allison Brophy Champion

Published: October 6, 2008

Culpeper County saw a flurry of political activity on all sides Monday — the last day to register to vote in the Nov. 4 presidential election.

By 5 p.m., when the local registrar’s office closed, more than 650 citizens had added their names to the voter’s roll in a single day, bringing the number of registered voters in Culpeper County to nearly 27,200 — an increase of more than 2,300 since February’s presidential primary.

“I don’t remember it being quite this busy for the ’04 election,” Registrar Michele White said near the end of her shift, adding that Monday marked the busiest day ever for voter registration in Culpeper County.

Her stack of registration forms measured about five inches thick, arriving Monday via mail, in person and from organizers of at least two voter drives. Numerous 18-year-olds signed up for the first time to vote Monday, as did older adults.

“We’ve got a bunch of stacks, for sure, coming in,” registrar’s office employee Jay Thomas said of applications to register to vote and vote absentee.

By 4:30 p.m., almost 50 citizens had voted by absentee ballot in one day, Thomas said, bringing the total number to 100.

Freda Bullock, 35, took a moment to update her voting information Monday morning in the registrar’s office after recently moving to Culpeper from North Carolina with her husband, who works for the military.

Bullock, a social worker, said she votes in all the elections but was undecided about her choice for president.

“I think a lot of people would assume that since I’m African-American that I’m voting Democrat, but I’m still deciding,” she said. “I haven’t made my decision yet because I still have my Christian belief as far as being pro-life. … But then again, change.”

Bullock said she was torn between the ideals of her faith and the promise of “new ideas” from Barack Obama.

“I’m stuck in the middle,” she said, adding that watching the candidates debate on TV would hopefully help her decide.

Bullock added that she’s not swayed by negative attacks from either campaign, mentioning a segment she watched Sunday night on Fox News that alleged ties between Obama and 1960s-era radical Bill Ayers.

“It kind of threw me off because it seems like they are trying to make up something that may not be really be true,” she said. “I’m thinking, I’m not interested in all that. I’m interested in, ‘What are you really going to do?’”

Republicans busy
At the Culpeper GOP headquarters on Main Street, volunteer Linda Moir busily answered phones and handed out campaign signs to folks wandering in Monday morning.

Many people were calling, “anxious to know about the last day to register to vote,” she said, referring people to the registrar’s office.

Moir, a retired Verizon employee who moved to Culpeper from Maryland five years ago, said she was prompted to volunteer with the local GOP because, “I am a Republican and I believe in the McCain-Palin ticket.”

The most important election issue for her is the safety and security of America, Moir said, adding that it concerns her when she hears of people who won’t vote because they can’t decide on a candidate or don’t like either.

“That’s not really the answer,” she said, “because you’re losing your chance, you privilege, to let your voice be on a ballot.”

First-time voter
Culpeper native Lynn Hackley planned to have his voice heard come Nov. 4.

At age 34, the Merillat worker registered to vote for the first time Monday at a drive hosted by the local Obama campaign outside the Citgo on Orange Road.

“It’s time for me to start voting. I have a say in what’s going to happen,” Hackley said, adding, “I come here every day, and I’ve heard a lot of people say, ‘I’m not going to matter’ — you actually do matter.”

For Hackley, like millions of other Americans, his biggest issue is the economy.

Democrats mum
Over at the Obama Headquarters on Main Street, a handwritten sign propped on the sidewalk advised voters, “Register to vote today — last day,” pointing them upstairs to the second-floor office.

Inside, regional field organizer Nish Suvarnakar declined comment about local voter registration efforts through the Obama office. The paid campaign staffer said all comments to the press had to be cleared through the state office.

An unpaid volunteer in the office also declined comment on the Obama campaign, saying she worked for Culpeper Regional Hospital and didn’t want to mix her work with politics. Another woman said she didn’t work with the campaign this weekend at an apparent “canvassing event” and couldn’t comment.

Suvarnakar, of Richardsville, suggested tracking down another local Obama volunteer at the Citgo, where a voter’s drive took place Monday.

Registration drives
Democratic volunteer Nancy Halgren, a rural postal carrier on medical leave for an injured arm, was happy to talk about the process of registering voters as she helped Hackley and others get on the roll.

Unfortunately, she said, she had to turn away several non-Culpeper residents attempting to register; voters must register in the county in which they reside.

“We were on the phones all last night calling people who had recently registered or downloaded an application to register,” she said, “and what we found is some of them showed up registered, and some not.”

What surprised Halgren most about Monday’s nonpartisan drive, she said, was the fact that several men who were not registered to vote were not interested in doing so.

“I just think that with the stakes being so high in this election … ” she said, trailing off.

For GOP volunteer Frank Andrews of Culpeper, values are most important to him in choosing the next president — liberalism versus conservatism, he said.

“One candidate calls for change,” Andrews, a retired employee of Rappahannock Electric Cooperative, added. “Change in itself isn’t always good. Change is a two-edged sword.”

Allison Brophy Champion can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 101 or

Did you register?
Did you register to vote Monday? If so, you should receive your voter’s registration card by Oct. 17, according to Culpeper County Registrar Michele White.