"RICHMOND -- A quirk in state law may have left almost 74,000 people in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake unrepresented in the state Senate.

General Assembly leaders are debating whether senators represent the districts they were elected to in 1999 or new ones adopted this spring.

Some legislators fear they accidentally have disenfranchised voters in mostly the Kempsville region of Virginia Beach and Chesapeake plus another 45,000 in the counties surrounding Charlottesville. They say other voters actually have two state senators.

Other lawmakers insist the one man, one vote standard has not been violated. But they say hundreds of thousands of people in every corner of the state are now represented by senators whom they have never had the opportunity to vote for or against.

In the most extreme case, voters living just outside the Beltway in Fairfax County have been told by their local registrar that their state senator is a cattle farmer in Southwest Virginia.

Political scientists say the mess may need to be untangled in court.

The General Assembly drew new legislative maps this year in the once-a-decade redistricting process that follows each U.S. Census. Two special elections this year brought the Senate district imbroglio to light.

Chesapeake Republican Harry B. Blevins was chosen in September to succeed J. Randy Forbes, who resigned to run for Congress. A second special election is scheduled for Dec. 18 to fill the seat held by Democrat Emily Couric, who died last month after battling pancreatic cancer.

In the past, special elections for state Senate seats were held in the old districts. But this year the newly drawn boundaries are being used because of a little-noticed 1990 law that is guiding legislative elections for the first time.

The problem is that Virginia's other 38 state senators were elected under the old political maps, and they aren't scheduled to run in the new districts for another two years.

Karen Beauchamp, chairwoman of the Virginia Beach Republican Committee, said the change in Blevins' district caused confusion among city residents.

``People went to vote for him and couldn't,'' she said.

Others who were eligible to vote didn't realize they were in the district. As a result, only 84 of the 53,000 Beach voters in Blevins' district voted for him.

The abysmal turnout attracted little attention because Blevins was unopposed and because he lives within both the old and new district boundaries.

The contest for Couric's seat is more complicated. The Democratic nominee is Del. R. Creigh Deeds of Bath County, who lives in the new district but not the old one. Republicans in Madison and Greene counties and parts of Albemarle and Orange counties are angry that they've been pushed out of the district and blocked from the election.

``That means we're not represented for two years. The one person, one vote don't stand,'' said David Myers, chairman of the Greene County Republicans, who are apparently now constituents of Augusta County Republican Emmett W. Hanger. ``I'm sure Emmett will come over and represent us but we haven't elected him.''

The bitterness is even stronger in rural Madison County, where animosity still lingers over the federal government's decision to seize family farms there in the 1920s and '30s for the Shenandoah National Park. New political maps placed the county in a district represented by Sen. R. Edward ``Edd'' Houck, D-Spotsylvania.

``I am absolutely not happy,'' said Al Martin, GOP chairman in Madison. ``I feel like I have no senator. Even though Emily was a Democrat, she was a special Democrat and she had a special feel for the people out here. Edd is not a bad guy but there's a certain amount of resentment that this is being shoved down our throats.''

Sen. Kevin G. Miller, R-Harrisonburg, said the new Senate districts became effective in July when the U.S. Department of Justice approved the new political maps. Miller is chairman of the Senate committee that oversees election and redistricting laws. He said he believes state senators will continue to handle requests from constituents in their old district until new elections in 2003.

``We're all state senators, and I represent all citizens and I certainly don't ignore the people who were in my district when I was elected in 1999,'' he said.

Miller said he intends to move before the next election to Shenandoah County, which was added to his district this year. Attorney General Randolph A. Beales ruled that he could do so because it is already in his district.

Under that argument, Miller acknowledged, Montgomery County Democrat Madison E. Marye doesn't live in his district anymore. His Southwest Virginia district was obliterated to create a new Senate seat covering parts of fast-growing Prince William and Fairfax counties.

Del. Marian Van Landingham, D-Alexandria, said some of her Fairfax County constituents have been told by the local registrar that Marye is their senator even though he lives 250 miles away.

Marye and a veterinarian were in his barn hunched over a crippled calf when that startling bit of information was conveyed to him Friday.

``That's absurd,'' the 75-year-old farmer said. ``I don't think the Supreme Court would buy that.''

Quipped his wife, Charlotte, upon hearing the news: ``I'm not going up there with him.''

A General Assembly committee recognized the potential for problems three years after legislators adopted the 1990 special elections law and considered repealing it. But the group opted to keep the law because once a new redistricting map is adopted, localities change precinct boundaries to correspond with the plan.

While it may be cumbersome for local registrars to revert back to the old precincts for special elections, U.S. Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott said that's better than leaving voters without representation in the state senate.

Scott won a state senate seat in a 1982 special election when the old districts were still being used and he could recall no significant problems.

The 3rd District Democrat said the ambiguous wording of the 1990 special elections law would create a new problem if Marye decided to retire before 2003. The law calls for a special election in the district ``which most closely approximates the district in which the vacancy occurred.'' Scott said that could be interpreted to mean an election should be called in one of the new Southwest districts that picked up part of Marye's old territory. That creates the potential for a special election in a district that already has an incumbent.

Political scientist Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia said he believes the old districts should be used until all 40 Senate seats are up for election in 2003.

``This is the first time this has ever been done and it seems odd to me,'' he said. ``I assume the courts will have to address this. Something is very wrong here. People should know who their representative is and know they are being represented.'' " (Christina Nuckols, The Virginia-Pilot, November 12, 2001).

Reach Christina Nuckols at 804-697-1562 or cnuckols@pilotonline.com

Editor's Note: As most of you know, candidates must run in the district where they are registered to vote. In this case, if Creigh Deeds wished to run in the old district, he would need to change his registration and residency no later than December 11th at 5 p.m.