A method for reducing charge accumulation in a field emission display (100) includes the steps of causing a plurality of electron emitters (114) to emit electrons (132) to reduce the potential at an anode (124) of the field emission display (100). Upon the reduction of the potential at the anode (124), the electrons (132) neutralize a positively electrostatically charged surface (129) of a spacer (130). The anode potential is dropped by providing a resistor (127) in series with a voltage source (126) connected to the anode (124). The anode potential is reduced by causing the electron emitters (114) to emit simultaneously to provide a pull-down current (128) at the anode (124). The voltage at the anode (124) is reduced to a value that causes a sufficient flux of electrons (132) to be attracted to the charged surfaces (129) for neutralizing them.