DATE: Sunday, November 16, 1997             TAG: 9711130240

SECTION: COMMENTARY              PAGE: J6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER

                                            LENGTH:  130 lines

VOTER TURNOUT: VOICES OF CITIZENS SPEAK LOUDER THAN INDIFFERENCE

Fewer Virginians voted in this year's state elections, a trend mirrored in four of the five South Hampton Roads' cities.

Does that mean more people are content? Apathetic? Uninspired by candidates? Too frustrated to bother?

Or is something else happening - quite the opposite - that the usual radar devices cannot pick up?

Sorry. No firm answers here, only a perhaps.

Perhaps low turnout does not equate to low interest in politics.

That glimmer of an idea is based on comments of about 15 people who met weekly to talk about the state elections.

About 15 people? What type of sampling is that?

First, a little about who these people were.

They were the regulars who participated in an experiment called Your Voice/Your Vote, sponsored by a news media partnership made up of The Virginian-Pilot, WVEC-TV, WHRO-TV and Local News on Cable. The citizen conversations contributed to the campaign coverage of those organizations.

The panelists were enlisted after attending open forums on the elections, held this summer by the Your Voice/Your Vote partnership.

The citizens reflected - but not scientifically - some of the diversity of Hampton Roads, including color, gender, jobs, age and geographic locations.

They often disagreed over the formal trappings of politics - Democrats vs. Republicans, Don Beyer backers vs. Jim Gilmore supporters. A few dropped out. But most of them tolerated each other - even initiating a mailing list for exchanging Christmas cards and keeping in touch.

Sometimes they tried to outdo each other with political speeches or grandstand for TV cameras. A couple considered the idea of running for office someday.

But they also tried to listen to one another and converse.

They shared with each other the stories that shaped their points of view - why they hated or supported the personal property tax on cars, why they favored harsh penalties against criminals or wanted more money spent on crime-prevention.

``It proved to me that democracy works, or can work, when people - even from divergent points of view - are civil and honest, when people are trying to solve a problem not just make a point for political purposes, or when people admit that they don't know the answer but are willing to find a solution . . . when people get away from the rhetoric,'' said Eileen Huey of Chesapeake, a paralegal for a Norfolk law firm and an instructor at Tidewater Community College.

The names, faces and comments of the panelists appeared in newspaper stories and TV coverage throughout the eight weeks the Your Voice/Your Vote convened.

That's how unusual things began happening with the panelists:

Belinda Anthony of Norfolk grew confident in starting a grass-roots organization, Save our Sons and Daughters, that steers youngsters from crime and drugs. ``I've gone from a private person to a very public person,'' she said.

Billie Montgomery-Cook of Portsmouth reported being stopped by people in the grocery store to chat about the elections.

Brian Kirwin of Virginia Beach said strangers telephoned or e-mailed him at home to talk about his political views.

James Koziana of Suffolk said his mayor now recognizes him when he visits City Hall. And colleagues at Old Dominion University kid Kozian about being ``a celebrity,'' but then turn to political talk.

As Eileen Huey said: ``For some reason, people found it extremely exciting be at the table discussing the state elections.''

But does such excitement translate into voting? There has not been enough research to know.

Yet a growing number of anecdotes, here and elsewhere, suggest heightened citizen interest and involvement in public issues.

Billie Montgomery-Cook of the Your Voice/Your Vote panel believes that media recognition was a form of ``validation'' for what ordinary citizens have to say about election issues.

In some cases, the news media used the thoughts of the Your Voice/Your Vote panelists to create questions for the candidates.

Some panelists directly questioned Beyer and Gilmore at roundtable discussions later on TV.

``People came up and said, `I actually listened to this guy just to see how he was going to answer questions from regular everyday people who weren't in the media, who weren't spin doctors,' '' Montgomery-Cook said.

Kirwin said he does not know whether the people who contacted him then went on to vote. But, he said, ``They seemed to be asking, `What is a good thing to do once the election is over?'. . .

``They were not really interested in the horse race . . . but `What can we do as citizens, as parents, to fix these things,' '' Kirwin said. ``They may have been apathetic about the election, but that doesn't mean they are apathetic about public policies.''

Comments like Montgomery-Cook's and Kirwin's ring true in communities with longer-running experiments in tapping the public voice in elections.

The Wisconsin State Journal, a daily newspaper in Madison, Wis., has teamed with broadcast partners to create the ``We the People'' project. Since 1992, the partnership has convened citizens to talk about a variety of public issues.

``We think . . . people here are more engaged, talking to neighbors more (about politics and issues) and actually turning out and voting more,'' said Tom Still, associate editor of the State Journal. ``They've come to see politics as not just for guys in fancy suits . . . but for `me to carry out everyday in my own neighborhood.'

``It suggests that apathy never was the problem, it was cynicism. At core, people want to be involved, but they need help taking the first step.''

Lew Friedland, a former TV journalist now teaching at the University of Wisconsin, has noted growing viewership of TV reports based on ``We the People'' projects. A televised discussion about land-use planning even ``won its entire time slot on prime time,'' he said.

``The harder question concerns the effect on general community,'' he said. ``We have some evidence . . . but I wouldn't want to draw too strong a line.''

But Tom Still believes hard evidence already is emerging.

In 1994, ``We the People'' did not include the court elections. Voter turnout, Still said, was about 46,500 for his newspaper's main circulation area of Dane County.

Since then, turnout generally increased over three similar elections. This year, a Supreme Court campaign drew 90,000 Dane County voters. But Still cautions that turnout - up or down - depends on many factors.

Yet, are there lessons?

Yes. Not only for the news media, but for political candidates, governments and citizens. And not what you might think.

``It would optimistic to think we could change the opinions of candidates running for office,'' said Brian Kirwin. ``But we've focused the issues. We brought the debate to the people.

``We've affected the political process outside the campaigns, through the media . . . We got our issues out there, and we got people sitting around talking about the election.''

Adds Eileen Huey: ``We're starved for this.'' MEMO: Mike Knepler is a Virginian-Pilot staff writer who moderated the

Your Voice/Your Vote citizens panel. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

ON TELEVISION TODAY:

Your Voice/Your Vote will be discussed on Joel Rubin's show ``On

the Record'' at 11:30 this morning on WVEC-TV, Channel 13.

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