# Reg. Voters 11/97	Precinct	# Reg. Voters 5/98	Caravati	Toscano	Crafaik	King	Total Voting	% Voting
3508	Recreation	3540	479	543	395	352	967	27.3%
1793	Clark	1818	142	157	118	97	289	15.9%
1622	Carver	1641	261	270	90	133	411	25%
2651	Walker	2649	498	541	411	329	974	36.8%
1496	Firehouse	1541	154	169	29	55	225	14.6%
3451	Jefferson Park	3459	340	392	322	299	757	21.9%
3350	Venable	3315	292	314	191	156	536	16.2%
1920	Alumni Hall	1951	121	144	96	92	248	12.7%
	CAV		58	59	27	26	92

19,791

Total

19,914

2345

2589

1679

1539

4499

22.6%

City of Charlottesville Office of Voter Registration, Sheri L. Iachetta, Registrar (via fax, April 25, 2000)

Write-in votes included: 1 for Abstain, 1 for James Ceaser, 1 for Winston Churchill Gooding, 4 for Neil Gropen, 1 for Forrest Gump, 2 for Lawrence W. Kochard, 1 for Kevin Lynch, 1 for Joseph Mooney, 1 for Tom Morgan, 1 for Antoinette Roades, 1 for Gerhard Schoenthal, and 1 for William Lawrence Sibley. There were no write-in absentee ballots (Sue E. Lucas, Registrar, City of Charlottesville, May 6, 1998).

In this year's city council race, only 22.6% of the registered voters cast a ballot. "That's down even from two years ago, when 24 percent of registered voters visited the polls and marked the lowest voter turnout in at least 20 years, according to the registrar's records (Kimberly O'Brien, The Daily Progress, May 6, 1998).

According to Kevin Cox, only "14% of eligible city voters" actually got to the polls, as only 20,000 of 33,000 (or so) "adults eligible to vote are registered" (Kay Peaslee, The Observer, May 13-19, 1998).

Tuesday, May 5, 1998, 7:18 p.m. After the polls close and before the votes are tallied, WINA designated expert John Conover predicts "a Democratic Sweep and no votes for Kevin Cox" (John Conover, May 6, 1998).

In the 1996, Michael Crafaik faced three Democrats for three open seats. At that time, another political prognosticator, Tom Hill, prediced that Michael would win the Clark, Walker, and Recreation precincts (The Observer, May 2, 1996).

In fact, Crafaik placed in only one precinct, beating out Virginia Daugherty, 453 to 445, and lost to Daugherty city-wide, 1,852 to 2,571 (Unofficial Election Returns, The Daily Progress, May 8, 1996).

In his second bid for city council, Crafaik "received 173 fewer votes than in the 1996 elections ..." (Kimberly O'Brien, The Daily Progress, May 6, 1998). When asked about the future, Michael Crafaik wasn't so sure about a third try, but "promised to stay active in politics and the Republican party" (Kimberly O'Brien, The Daily Progress, May 6, 1998).

James King, who received only 140 votes fewer than Crafaik, said that "if the issues warrant it and [the City Council doesn't] address it, then I will do it again" (Kimberly O'Brien, The Daily Progress, May 6, 1998).

The most notable newspaper headline during the city council race was the one for Doug Davala's article on James King: Independent candidate: Population is fleeing city (The Charlottesville & Albemarle Observer, March 25 - 31, 1998). At the press conference, King stressed the power of the current City Councilors "to reverse 'alarming' demographic trends" and the importance of having citizen representation by the city in decisions by the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors which "directly determine Charlottesville's demographic future" (The Charlottesville & Albemarle Observer, March 25 - 31, 1998).

"Blake Caravati (D), Michael Crafaik (R), James King (I), and David Toscano (D) are all competing for two seats in Tuesday's election. "While King is pushing for a non-partisan voice on the City Council, Crafaik, 26, is hoping to become the first Republican elected since 1986" (Kimberly O'Brien, The Daily Progress, May 1, 1998).

"'You have five people who think alike and act alike,' said Thomas Albro, a Crafaik supporter who served as a Republican on the City Council from 1978 to 1982. 'If you like one-party government, you ought to like the red party in China. [The government] ends up not listening to the people, because it doesn't need the people" (Kimberly O'Brien, The Daily Progress, May 1, 1998).