Voting system security, Trump vs. Clinton, and more: letters to the editor
Editor’s note: As noted previously, our deadline to receive election-related letters was October 21st and we would publish those letters by October 31. A number of such letters were received after the deadline; consequently, we will not be able to publish them. If yours was such a letter, please feel free to submit another letter that we can run after November 6th.
‘Our voting systems are secure’
With the November elections just days away, Centre County wants to reassure our residents that we have the utmost confidence in our voting systems. Our voting systems are secure and your vote will be properly counted.
A recent nationwide poll showed nearly 80 percent of Americans are at least somewhat concerned that the nation’s voting systems might be vulnerable to hackers. However, Centre County’s voting machines do not – and cannot – connect to the internet in any way and there is nothing to suggest our machines have ever been tampered with.
All of our County’s voting machines are maintained by a strict, documented chain of custody from beginning to end. Before each election, the machines are programmed, tested, and sealed, and back-up machines are prepared in case of a malfunction. Each polling location is equipped with an emergency plan and has a scripted procedure to follow in the event of a suspected machine malfunction.
We will continue to maintain the strictest security standards for our elections making sure every vote is accurately counted. These steps are only a few of the security efforts Centre County is constantly taking to protect the fundamental basis of our democracy – free, fair, and accurate elections.
If you have questions or would like to learn more ... please contact our County Elections Office at 814.355.6703 or visit www.centrecountyvotes.com. - Steven G. Dershem, Chair; Mark Higgins, Vice Chair; Michael Pipe, Centre County Board of Elections
‘A grand move’
I write to tell fellow Centre County residents of an event to announce the new name, Centre Safe, for the former Women’s Resource Center. It is a grand move to help all of us understand and have knowledge of the help that our community provides to victims of domestic violence and our need to support this service. Congratulations to everyone who makes this vital work happen.
But even more, I was startled by a display at the event - a dining table with 17 places. Each plate represents a named Centre County resident who has lost their life in recent years to domestic violence and includes the reported story. As this exhibit travels through Centre County, we should reflect on these several lives, whose loss makes us all poorer. We can personally think how we might each help to prevent adding plates to that table. - Judith Ikenberry, State College, PA
‘Merely an allegation’
Time and, time again, I read the “Letters to the Editors” and witness the very convenient memory of a liberal Democrat. The latest musing in the letter “His Pride is Beyond Law,” the writer comments about our President: “Now, ask yourself, is our earth governed solely by an amoral bottom line?”
In my time - and I’m a nonagenarian - I cannot name any persons who occupied the White House who were more amoral than William Jefferson Clinton and his spouse Hillary. At this time, the writer’s pegging of Trump is merely an allegation, while my pegging of the Clintons as being amoral is fact. - Ken Criste, Ferguson Township