Now that the fireworks are over, residents of Gloucester and Mathews can anticipate the changes coming in their county governments.

In Gloucester, voters showed the door to just one incumbent and come January, the board of supervisors will no longer have any member of the majority that caused such uproar in 2008 with its midnight dismissals of staff members. Mr. Crewe had worked diligently to communicate with Gloucester Point constituents, especially during the seemingly endless reconstruction of Route 17 there, but the voters apparently took other memories with them into the voting booth.

In Mathews, anti-incumbency swept out three constitutional officers with long service, but pro-incumbency kept currently seated supervisors and school board members in their places.

It is hard to figure out the intangibles that make a voter select one candidate over another. There are traits of personality, sparks and smoldering fog from past clashes of opinion or votes, and … just &he...