Editor,

Tuesday, July 24, 2018. Write that down. It is a day that probably won’t “live in infamy,” but will stand as a day that a small group of arrogant citizens and elected officials decided that they know what is best for the county and intend to see that the vast majority of the citizens are ignored in the election of the next sheriff. What is worse is that three members of the Board are doing this and costing the citizens $20,00 to $30,000 for the privilege of being disenfranchised.

The supposed reasoning that somehow having a special election in the middle of the summer that is only three months before normal elections will better serve ALL the citizens is a joke. I mean, really, Virginia law dictates that James Clark, the second in command, serves as sheriff until the next election. He is going to serve for five months before the special election in July. That is only three months before the normal election. Virginia law says he is to run the office for five months, but the county somehow will suffer if he serves for eight months? James Clark is a known quantity with an excellent reputation for honesty and being above board. The projected result of this foolishness is that less than two percent of the citizens will actually vote. Normally, in a November election, 45 percent of the citizens vote. Excluding voters is not good and any candidate that says so is clearly telling you it is raining when you know full well what he’s doing on your shoes!

The public is best served with normal November elections with choices for every office on the ballot. All honest candidates should do all they can to see that the maximum number of citizens get a say in the election.

Candidates and their supporters that promoted excluding voters already made a clear statement on their real character.

This attempt to short circuit most citizens is just wrong.

Al Casteen

Smithfield