Lazaro Gets Another Term; Turnout at 13%

By Meghan Louttit (Contact)

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Incumbent Mayor Robert W. Lazaro Jr. prevailed in Tuesday's mayoral race in Purcellville after a months-long campaign that centered on plans to build a new high school north of town.

Lazaro had 921 votes, or 61.5 percent, to challenger Karl Phillips' 577 votes.

"I think [my reelection] says to the county that they need to be serious about working with the town," Lazaro said Tuesday evening. “The public has sent a very strong message that enough is enough … and they do not want to be put in this position of having to pay for the infrastructure for a school that their children will never attend, because our kids will always stay at Valley."

Earlier in the day, Lazaro, who also defeated Phillips two years ago for Purcellville's top post, said the planned Woodgrove High School wasn't the only major issue in Tuesday's election.

"People have diverse opinions," he said. "They care about water, traffic, continuing to manage growth, transportation in general, taxes [and] growing the business tax base."

Phillips countered, saying that while many of the issues are the same as in 2006, the main concern of residents now is the school because of the related litigation and its costs.

Voters decided to stick by Lazaro and the three candidates he endorsed for Town Council: incumbents C.J. Walker III, Gregory W. Wagner, and challenger Joan S. Lehr.

In the Hamilton Town Council race, voters elected candidates who weren't on the ballot. John. D. Unger, Craig M. Green and Patricia A. Maher-Wade were on the ballot, but in the end, two of them lost to write-in candidates. The winners were Unger, who had 38 votes, and write-ins Ken Wine and Tom Rollins, with 46 and 42 votes, respectively.

"We don't want anyone going to bed tonight thinking they won the election but I think that's what's going to happen," Loudoun general registrar Judy Brown said Tuesday night, adding that early state election data wouldn't indicate the success of Hamilton's write-in candidates.

Brown said the county didn't have much to boast about in terms of turnout. Of the 29,396 registered voters in Loudoun's seven incorporated towns, 3,766 cast a ballot. That's a turnout rate of 12.8 percent.

“I wasn't impressed,” Brown said. “It was a very slow day."

Nearly four-fifths of those registered voters are in Leesburg, which saw the worst voter turnout in the county, at 8 percent. Some polling stations had abandoned campaign tables just outside their entrances, with balloons waving in the wind and stacks of information sheets rubber-banded on the desk.

By 2 p.m. at Loudoun County High School, only 38 of the precinct's 1,763 registered voters had showed up to vote. By the end of the day, 66 had cast a ballot.

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Although many voters in Loudoun's incorporated towns didn't show up to the polls Tuesday, Purcellville was the exception. Here, voters make their way inside Emerick Elementary School to cast a ballot. (Meghan Louttit)

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Purcellville Mayor Robert W. Lazaro Jr. makes his way to the poll on Tuesday. (Meghan Louttit)

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Purcellville mayoral candidate Karl R. Phillips speaks with voters Tuesday outside Purcellville's only polling place. (Meghan Louttit)

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Freshly cut grass dots this reelection sign for incumbent Purcellville Mayor Bob W. Lazaro. The heated contest between incumbent Lazaro and challenger Karl Phillips is what drew many Purcellville voters to the polls on Tuesday. (Scott Den Herder)

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A table for Leesburg Mayor Kristen C. Umstattd set up so she could campaign for Town Council candidates she supports was unstaffed Tuesday afternoon outside the polling place at Loudoun County High School. Umstattd ran unopposed for her fourth term. (Scott Den Herder)

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Purcellville mayoral candidate Karl Phillips, visible in the background, gets in some last-minute campaigning outside of Emerick Elementary on Tuesday. (Meghan Louttit)

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Karl Phillips, a candidate for Purcellville mayor, stands outside Emerick Elementary on Tuesday to talk to voters as they head to the polls. (Meghan Louttit)

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Charlie Douglas, left, and Jane Simpson help voters on Tuesday at Emerick Elementary School in Purcellville. (Meghan Louttit)

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The C.S. Monroe Technology Center was one of 11 polling places in Leesburg. (Meghan Louttit)

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"I know there was quite a bit of campaigning, but there wasn't really one pressing issue" to bring more people to the polls like in Purcellville, election supervisor Jennifer Roberts said.

Of the voters who came out to the C.S. Monroe Technology Center in Leesburg, precinct supervisor Janice Webb said turnout was "somewhere between average and a little light." Out of 1,414 registered voters, 157 cast a ballot in an election that included an uncontested mayoral race and races for Town Council.

One of those voters was Ernestine Ridgway, a 30-year Leesburg resident.

"I just figured I would support some of these people. Kristen Umstattd is the mayor, and she came to visit me last night … she comes to me all the time for some reason before voting because she says I brought her luck,” Rigdway said.

Of the Council candidates, she said “You know, they're all new, and they all promise … you just sort of think, well, pick out a few things that you think they'll be honest about.”

While Umstattd was uncontested, four candidates for Leesburg Town Council battled for three seats. The top vote-getters were David S. Butler (1,184 votes), incumbent Katie Sheldon Hammler (1,181 votes) and Thomas S. Dunn II (1,087 votes), who defeated Frank H. Holtz (1,025 votes).

The low voter turnout across the county highlighted the slightly higher-than-average crowd at Purcellville's only polling station, Emerick Elementary School. Election officials and candidates attributed the 35 percent turnout to the uncertainty surrounding the high school.

Purcellville precinct supervisor Barbara Cockerill said she didn't think voters were quite as fired up about the election as the candidates.

“I think [the voters] are just doing their duty,” she said. “Nobody seems to be upset, except the candidates outside. Everybody's just coming in and doing what they have to do.”

Lazaro said during his second term, he's hoping for a turnaround in the way he believes the county has worked with Purcellville officials over the last couple of years.

"The town has reached out to [the county] in good faith on a number of occasions and the response back has been less than genuine," he said. "So I'm hopeful that they're willing to work with us. If not, we will continue on the path that we have continued on."

There were few surprises elsewhere in Loudoun.

In Lovettsville, Mayor Elaine D. Walker fended off a challenge from former Town Council member Richard T. Greene to keep the post she's held since 1990. Walker had 122 votes, or 73.1 percent, compared to Greene's 45 votes.

The three candidates who ran for three open seats on the Lovettsville Town Council were Scott D. Dockum, Michael T. Senate and Shaun P. Staley.

Middleburg Mayor Betsy Allen Davis ran unopposed and will receive another term. There was little suspense in the Town Council race after Sara E. "Sally" Bolton dropped out last week. That left incumbents Trowbridge Littleton and C.C. "Bundles" Murdock, and challenger Kathy jo Shea vying for the three open seats.

In Round Hill, John W. Heyner ran unopposed for mayor, and three candidates -- incumbents Scott T. Ramsey and Mary Anne K. Graham, as well as challenger R. Daniel Botsch -- will fill three open Town Council seats.

The smallest town in Loudoun County, Hillsboro, relies only on write-in votes and doesn't allow candidates on the ballot. Roger Vance was elected mayor with 25 votes, while Steve Mogart, John Dean, Amy Newton Moraso, Joe Gertig and Matt Parse won council seats, besting Patricia Grisby. Hillsboro had Loudoun's highest turnout rate at 51 percent: 35 of its 69 registered voters cast a ballot.

Tagged: elections, Mayor Betsy Davis, Mayor Bob Lazaro , Mayor Elaine Walker, Mayor Kristen C. Umstattd, Middleburg Town Council, politics

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