WARREN COUNTY, Va. — Warren County, Virginia residents will have an opportunity to vote on whether they think a Confederate monument that has sat on the courthouse lawn for over 100 years should be removed. A referendum will appear on the Nov. 3 ballots asking voters their opinion.
The question on the ballot will read: “Should the confederate monument located on the Warren County Courthouse lawn be relocated?”
The statue is a generic representation of a Confederate soldier with the names of 600 locals who fought for the Confederacy on a plaque. The monument has sat outside the Warren County Courthouse since 1911.
The referendum however is non-binding, meaning the Warren County Board of Supervisors would not have to abide by the outcome of the vote.
Warren County is far from the first locality to discuss removing Confederate imagery. Monuments all across the commonwealth have been coming down this year, including a statue owned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy outside a courthouse in Loudoun County.
The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted in July to remove a Confederate monument outside the Leesburg courthouse. The monument, known as the "Silent Sentinel," was unveiled in 1908 and was the county's oldest monument.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors also voted in Septemeber to remove a monument from the grounds of the county courthouse marking the spot where the first Confederate soldier died in the Civil War.
Prior to July 1, a Virginia law prohibited localities from removing or relocating "any monument or memorial for the veterans of any war or conflict." But HB 1537 and SB 183 amended that section of the Code of Virginia to allow localities to make changes to war memorials without express permission from the commonwealth.