Public commenters press Henrico on tree removals and electronic-voting transparency

Two registered speakers used the public-comment period to press the board on separate issues: trees and election integrity.

Jennifer Lieberman told supervisors she supports planting but criticized what she described as widespread tree removal in Henrico. She noted the county recently celebrated planting 10,000 trees but said that number does not offset the mature trees removed and urged officials to consider trees’ roles in carbon storage, water retention, shade and fire resistance. "How many of those trees do you need? Over 3,000," she said while urging policy attention to drought and temporary limits on cutting.

Lieberman spoke from SEG 661 onward and asked the board to weigh ecological functions when permitting removals.

Later in the public-comment period, Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Clark recounted earlier interactions with county elections staff and outside expert Mark Cook about vulnerabilities in electronic voting systems. Clark said he previously sought cast-vote records and that his FOIA effort was rebuffed and required a court order; he said the registrar’s office told him it did not recognize the term "cast vote records." Clark asserted that proprietary vendor software prevents public verification of counts and that some retired law-enforcement officers have declined to work elections because they believe they cannot confirm accuracy. "I have law enforcement officers that are retired that refuse to work the elections because they know it's a class 5 felony to sign those documents because they cannot verify it's accurate," he said. Clark said he will request the records again and share updates with the board.

Both speakers asked the board to take steps: Lieberman for stronger protections on tree removal during dry conditions and Clark for greater transparency or release of election records. The board heard their remarks but did not take immediate action during the meeting.