THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 13, 1996 TAG: 9603130563
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 34 lines
The state Board of Elections lost another round Tuesday in its effort to change the language of a ballot question Virginia Beach voters are to consider May 7.
The referendum will ask voters whether they want to stay with the current, all at-large, system of electing city representatives or change to a modified ward system.
Retired Norfolk Circuit Court Judge Leonard B. Sachs decided Tuesday not to stop the city from using the ballot question and granted Virginia Beach's motion to dismiss the case.
``This really does, we think, end it,'' Assistant City Attorney Richard J. Beaver said, describing the case as ``a creative move by the state board to throw up one more roadblock.''
Sachs was called in to decide the case because the Virginia Beach Circuit Court - the same court the state board asked for the injunction - had already concluded twice that the City Council could phrase the ballot question however it liked.
The state board has filed a notice of appeal to the state Supreme Court. The ballots are printed April 9, so any wording change will have to be made by then.
KEYWORDS: ELECTIONS VIRGINIA BEACH by CNB