A contingent of Mathews County residents expressed anger and outrage during Monday’s board of supervisors meeting after the board, on a 3-2 vote, passed a motion to prohibit the placement of political signs at the Confederate monument on the court green.

The motion also restricted the placement of flags at the monument to only those representing the local, state, and U.S. governments. Supervisors Paul Hudgins and Jackie Ingram cast the dissenting votes.

“The vote you just took is illegal,” said Joey Taylor, commander of the Lane-Armistead Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, a local organization that purchased a number of political signs urging Mathews residents to vote against the removal of the monument from the court green in the upcoming referendum, to be held during the Nov. 2 general election. The small signs have been consistently placed on the ground surrounding the monument.

Speaking during public comment period, Taylor claimed that the United Daughters of the C...