Dear Editor,

I would like to respond to the article entitled “What Triggered the Issues” from the May 26, 2023 edition of The Farmville Herald. As a former Secretary of the Buckingham County Electoral Board, during the November 2022 election, I am not aware of any list supplied by the Republican Party for precinct Chiefs, Assistant Chiefs, or Officers. Is there such a list? We were always looking for volunteers to work the elections and would have welcomed such input.

Every precinct in our county had a Republican serving as either Chief or Assistant Chief. If anything, it was the Democratic Party that was underrepresented due to our inability to find enough Democrats to take those positions. As a result, Democrats were not represented in those positions in five of our eleven precincts. However, the Democrats have never complained about our experienced Republican and Independent officers. These facts can be easily verified at the Registrar’s office.

The “list of allegations” only surfaced, for the first time, well after the 2022 election. It was used as an excuse for not reappointing our excellent, non partisan, Registrar, Lindsey Taylor. None of it was ever brought to the Electoral Board as a concern before. Our board and employees have always operated as nonpartisans. Our volunteers have exhibited the highest level of honesty and integrity in carrying out their duties.

As we watch our county’s Electoral Board and Registrar’s office in chaos, we need to ask why. What are these extremists after? After standing up to a campaign of harassment directed at her by the Republican Committee, we lost an outstanding Registrar. Lindsey was respected by all, except a group of radicals, who replaced her with someone clearly unfit to do the job. The losers in this are Lindsey Taylor, an exceptional Registrar we were fortunate to find and hire, but also the people of Buckingham County. We must stand up to extremist groups who view everything through a partisan political lens.

Larry Davis

Former Electoral Board Secretary