LETTER: We must restore our trust
In response to Gary Stout’s Feb. 27 op-ed, “Chasing phantom voter fraud in Washington County,” I am suspicious of people who insist that we ignore the man behind the curtain, that there’s nothing to see here. When I hear this I tend to look deeper into the issue.
I could find many experts and articles that refute all they present as facts that their beliefs are true, and they can and have done the same with their side of the argument. So what is true? What can we depend on as fact? The answer is we don’t know the truth; we don’t know what happened in the election of 2019. We don’t know if fraud was conducted or if everything was just fine. We just pick a side and then read everything that supports our argument. We all are just useful idiots, and I include myself, supporting our “facts” as truth and writing our opinions, when in reality we just don’t know. And if my friends are truthful with themselves they will agree; we just don’t know for sure.
What we do know is that many Americans, your neighbors, feel that something happened during the election. They aren’t quite sure what or how, but something just didn’t feel right. They feel that they have been manipulated and most importantly they feel that their vote does not count. Why vote if someone is going to steal my vote?
When our neighbors feel like that, we must, as a nation, do everything we can to restore their confidence in the election process. If so many of your neighbors feel this uncertainty, then let’s open the books, open the voting machines, review the election procedures, eliminate any chances of fraud and electronic manipulation, and after a thorough bipartisan examination with published results, restore our faith and confidence in the voting process.
Regarding internet digital voting machines, a brief review of European countries reveals that most have outlawed their use due to voter security concerns.
We can’t debate this issue anymore. We must restore our trust in the election process or this free country will no longer be free.
Tom Flickinger
Washington