Editor, Gazette-Journal:

Recently, I have been approached by several members of our community with the question, “Why did you step down from the Mathews County Electoral Board?”

Membership of the electoral board is by judicial appointment. Each county in Virginia, regardless of size, has a three-member electoral board, of which two members reflect the party of the governor. I was appointed when Robert McDonnell, a Republican, was elected. With the election of Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, I have been replaced by Eunice Hyer of the Mathews Democrats.

The Mathews registrar and the electoral board have earned a statewide reputation for integrity, innovation and activism in promoting citizen involvement in the voting process.

It has been a tremendous honor to serve on the electoral board, especially for me, born under the first Soviet occupation of Latvia.

Elena Siddall

Port Haywood, Va. ...