
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, August 21, 1993                   TAG: 9308210056
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

IN HENRY, WHERE TO PUT COURTHOUSE IS THE ISSUE

Roanoke County may be the first locality to peer through a gaping loophole in Virginia election laws, but Henry County officials are poised to sail through it as well.

Roanoke County discovered the loophole when it placed two questions on the November ballot dealing with how to select School Boards. State code provides no remedy in the event that both pass.

In Henry County, voters will face the question of where to construct a new courthouse.

County Attorney Dale McGhee said he believed they could write a question that would give voters a choice between one of two sites: Moss Street, in Martinsville, or Kings Mountain Road, near the county administration building.

The State Board of Elections says he's wrong.

"That would be inappropriate," said Director of Operations Audrey Piatt. "I don't know why they think they can do it that way."

Under state law, questions placed on the ballot - other than choices between political candidates - must be worded to allow for "yes" or "no" or "for" or "against" answers, she said.

Henry County cannot word a question that allows voters to choose construction sites in the same manner they would choose candidates, said Piatt.

That leaves Henry County in the same position as Roanoke County - with the possibility that the matter could end up in court.

by CNB