Abortion and schools are top
by Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
A range of local and national issues are motivating factors this Election Day, according to voters at three Spotsylvania County precincts.
The county School Board has made national news on more than one occasion since 2021, but that wasn’t the top issue for a number of voters in the Salem and Courtland districts, where School Board seats are up for grabs.
Instead, Marla Butler, who voted at Salem Elementary School, said her top issue is abortion.
“I’m pro-life and very much so,” she said.
Abortion was also the “most important issue” for Darlene Chamberlain, who said she votes for “whoever is pro-life.”
A man who didn’t want to give his name but said he is 82 years old and originally came to the United States from the Philippines also identified abortion as his top issue.
“I am against it always,” he said. He continued to say that he is baffled by the vitriol and division he sees in politics today.
“Why can we no longer tolerate each other?” he asked.
The economy, especially housing, was a motivating factor for a voter named Candace, who refused sample ballots from both Democrats and Republicans working the polls at Salem Elementary.
Candace said that this year, she isn’t voting based on party affiliation but based on where candidates stand on issues that matter to her. She said she is struggling to afford a home as a middle-income earner and that her adult children, who have never voted before, are voting this year because “they see the struggle in the home.”
An older couple who gave their first names as Alan and Karen said the issues driving them this year are the same issues that always drive them – “schools, the economy and the border.”
On schools, they said they want to see kids being taught “reading, writing and arithmetic” as well as “proper history.”
Changing the dynamic of the School Board was important for a number of voters, especially those with children in the school division and those who work in the school division.
“Our School Board is off the rails,” said Stephanie, a mom whose daughter attends Salem Elementary.
“We want to make sure we’re not banning books,” she said.
At Salem Church library, Diana McGill brought her three daughters to vote. Two of them are in the school system and one is in preschool.
“I would love to see a change (on the School Board),” McGill said. “That’s my biggest issue. I feel like we are losing good teachers.”
McGill said her daughter’s middle school English teacher informed the class on the first day of school that she did not want to be teaching English. She wanted to teach science, but there was a vacancy in English that needed to be filled.
“She is absent at least once a week,” McGill said. “It just hurts my heart, because English is my daughter’s favorite subject.”
At Battlefield Elementary School in the Salem voting district, a woman who did not want to give her name because she works in the school division said she was out to support “pro-public education” candidates.
“The book banning, the fighting on the dais, the School Board not supporting the schools” are things that need to change, she said.
Milton Brown, who also voted at Battlefield Elementary, said he considers “the book banning situation” to be an infringement on students’ First Amendment rights.
Brown also said he’s concerned about the race for county Sheriff. He said he wants to see the Sheriff’s Office implement more training, especially de-escalation training for its deputies.
Turnout and sample ballots
As of 9 a.m., 214 people had voted at Salem Church library and 189 at Salem Elementary, according to election workers, who described turnout as “brisk” and “steady.”
At both of these precincts, Republican and Democrat volunteers were handing out pink and blue ballots listing the candidates officially endorsed by the respective committees.
But at Battlefield Elementary, Roy Searles, who is running against incumbent Deborah Frazier for the Salem Board of Supervisors seat, was handing out sample ballots paid for and authorized by Nick Ignacio.
These ballots indicate that Ignacio is the Republican-endorsed candidate for clerk of Circuit Court. In fact, the county Republican committee has not endorsed Ignacio.
A Stafford County judge last month issued an injunction preventing Ignacio from distributing or collaborating to distribute similar sample ballots that do not include the disclaimer “paid for and authorized by Nick Ignacio.”
Nicole Cole, a School Board member serving as Democrat precinct captain at Salem Elementary, estimated that about one-third of voters refused any sample ballot.
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