In a small corner of the Louisa County Fair last weekend, a little girl named Lily scrutinized her ballot.
It was a tough decision, she turned and told her father. The candidates for “Mayor of the Fair” all had positions she liked.
Gloria the Goat promised to install new playground equipment, which Lily thought would be a great addition to the Town of Mineral’s Walton Park. But Sam the Sheep was offering free rides for everyone. She liked Penny the Pig’s promise of healthier snacks. But it was Henrietta the Hen that eventually won Lily’s vote with her varied platform of “more games, more activities and less noise.”
It was that final promise of “less noise” that most of the young fair voters who chose Henrietta liked. Though it wasn’t enough to carry her to victory.
The winner, beating out three competitors with 32% of the vote, was Sam the Sheep. His promise of free rides for all fair attendants proved unbeatable.
More than 100 children (of all ages) cast their ballots for this ceremonial position, which the Charlottesville Tomorrow team and I put on at the Louisa and Albemarle County Fairs last weekend.
But, I’ll admit, we had another reason to host this farm animal election.
Your guide to local elections in 12 central Virginia counties
Today is our final day collecting survey responses for our 2025 Central Virginia Voter Guide, where we ask you what questions you have for local and state candidates. Tomorrow we will begin the painstaking process of reviewing your responses and crafting the Q&As that will go out to candidates in more than 150 races.
And though we’ve heard from a fair number of voters in Charlottesville, we’re still hoping to hear from more folks in these 11 counties: Albemarle, Appomattox, Buckingham, Cumberland, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, Madison, Nelson, Orange and Prince Edward. We also want to hear from you if you live in the towns of Scottsville, Appomattox, Pamplin, Dillwyn, Stanardsville, Louisa, Mineral, Madison, Gordonsville, Orange and Farmville.
We publish candidates’ responses to your questions, grouped together by each race to help you, the voter, understand how they compare on the issues that matter most to you. (You can see an example of how this looks from last year’s guide here.)
Take Action
Do you live in Albemarle, Appomattox, Buckingham, Cumberland, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, Madison, Nelson, Orange or Prince Edward County? Send us your questions for local candidates! Know folks who live out there? Forward them this newsletter. The more responses we get, the better our guide will serve you.
But back to the Mayor of the Fair…
Something rather extraordinary happened in the final hours of this contest. A write-in candidate emerged.
One Louisa County Fair attendee chose to nominate Candy the Cow. Although he didn’t offer specifics on Candy’s platform, he believed it was important to include a cow in the candidate pool.
But Candy later gained momentum, as new fair attendees with insider information shared that the cow’s platform was actually — you guessed it — more candy. And lemonade. A young fair-goer with a food dye allergy added that their favorite “candy-date” supported a variety of offerings, including dye-free treats. Candy the Cow racked up a total of four votes.
That’s fairly true to real life. A write-in candidate is any person whose name does not appear on the ballot, but receives a vote. Some folks run for positions as write-in candidates, asking voters to write their name on the ballot, because they did not meet the qualifications for the state to certify them. That usually happens when the candidate misses the filing deadline.
These candidates can struggle to campaign against the certified candidates in their races, and because of how tight the timing is between certifying candidates and the start of early voting, we cannot include them in our real world guide. And in general, central Virginia needs more candidates for its local offices.
Hopefully Candy is able to meet the filing deadlines for next year’s fair mayoral race. She might have a shot at ousting the new incumbent.
Happy Voting!
Jessie Higgins, Democracy Editor
P.S. Special thanks to our Democracy Intern Alana Bittner who spearheaded all our tabling this season. Our team at the fairs also included Charlottesville Inclusive Media Intern J.J. Yumal, Community Editor Atlee Webber and Revenue and Partnerships Lead Sakeena Alkateeb.
More from the Voter Guide
Your (preliminary) primary election results
In central Virginia, there aren’t enough candidates to fill open seats in local governments
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