Mail-in ballots have integrity
I cannot help but respond to Kris Thompson’s July 17 Pulse letter, “Ballot integrity must ensured.”
The writer says voters who vote by mail are unmotivated voters. So from her contention, older voters with health problems, voters who will be out of town on election day, and disabled voters are unmotivated voters. Really? I am a long-time Douglas County election worker and am encouraged to vote by mail so I can work at my polling place on election day and not leave to vote. So am I an unmotivated voter, after working 13 hours at the polls? Really?
Does the writer know that each mail-in ballot is closely checked with the voter registration on file, checking signature, birthdate, etc. This checking is to assure the mail-in ballot is the voter the ballot was sent to. On a national basis, the research done on voter integrity and accuracy gets very high marks for mail-in ballots.
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Yes, in close elections the integrity of each ballot cast is very important, I agree. In the event of a recount the mail-in ballots are as closely checked as the polling place ballots cast.
The writer should read the election manual for Lancaster County (I believe this is public information) to see all the safeguards in place to assure voter integrity and accuracy.
I think an unmotivated voter is a voter who doesn’t even register to vote or doesn’t vote at all.
Monty J. McClean, Omaha
Nebraska is politically diverse
A letter by John Shields (Pulse, Aug. 3) purported that nationwide statistics cited by Kara Eastman are meaningless here in Nebraska because “we do not live in Portland or San Francisco. And thank God.”
I am also grateful to my Maker for the chance to live here, having recently returned to Nebraska after 20 years living in Minnesota and Iowa. I’m a small town kid, a proud graduate of UNL, and delighted to be raising my two daughters just over an hour’s drive from the farms where all of my grandparents raised their families. In many ways I could not be more quintessentially “Nebraskan.” Does my support of many of the stances taken by Kara Eastman somehow make me less of a Nebraskan? I can assure you it does not.
We would all do well to remember that no state, city or county is a political monolith, and to realize that political litmus tests are a great way to fracture relationships and create even more mistrust and anxiety in a nation that is already far too mistrustful and anxious. Having married an Oregon native, I can tell you that there are staunch Republicans throughout the Portland area who want no more to do with its “loony left” caricature than I want to do with the caricature of “Nebraskans” Mr. Shields describes. We are all more diverse than we give ourselves credit for being, and acknowledging that there is far more to being “Nebraskan” than any one particular political viewpoint would be a good way to start thinking differently about ourselves.
Scott Alan Johnson, Fremont
Valuable retirement programs
Medicare was 55 years old on July 30 and Social Security will be 85 on Aug. 14. These programs have literally made retirement possible for older Americans.
Now they are under attack with the danger of a proposed new law falsely called the Trust Act (S 2733, HR 4907). This act would establish commissions to cut these programs in secret, no committee hearings, plus fast tracked through Congress with no public debate. If the Trump administration and other enemies of older Americans want to try to cut these programs, they need to do it in the full light of day before the public. Polling has shown that the vast majority of Americans want to strengthen these vital programs, not cut them. Despite the claim from some, these programs do not add to the federal deficit, as their income and outlays are totally separate from the general budget.
Let’s celebrate the anniversaries of these great programs by protecting them, not destroying them.
Al Mumm, Waterloo, Neb.
president, Nebraska Alliance for Retired Americans Educational Fund
I stand by the police
After reading Kristin Wipfler’s negative comments (July 31 Pulse) about the OPD officers doing their job to protect this city, I’ll stand by the police. There are a lot of broad statements, like trapping protesters, brutalizing them, us of military weaponry, children as victims. She goes on to say each and every one of the police has broken their oath. Each and every one! Kristin must be pretty busy if she knows what every officer in Omaha has done.
Please be careful what you wish for when you ask for the police to be defunded, disbanded, etc. The majority of the citizens across this country do not support this nonsense. If someone is breaking into your home, are you going to call Black Lives Matter, or maybe antifa, to come save you? Good luck.
Zane Edwards, Omaha