Letters to the Editor | Oct. 6, 2024
Inquirer readers on voting guides, unsafe courtrooms, and national security threats.
Voting help
In a moment when misinformation is rampant, voters need reliable, unbiased information about the candidates on their ballot. Vote411.org, a nonpartisan website provided by the League of Women Voters, provides just that. Before each election, a league team develops questions for candidates in all races, and invites them to provide their own answers, along with information about their background and qualifications.
The site gives candidates a chance to present themselves and their ideas and provides voters with a nonpartisan platform to study up on candidates. Vote411 also links Pennsylvania voters to the relevant commonwealth website to check or update their registration and find their polling place. Vote411 is available in all 50 states, thanks to the work of league members in more than 700 communities nationwide. As a league member in Montgomery County, it has been my privilege to work on Vote411 and help promote civic discourse. I urge everyone to visit the site before voting and to share this resource with friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues.
Mary Felley, board president, League of Women Voters of Abington-Cheltenham-Jenkintown Area, Rydal
Impending disaster
How much more corruption and incompetence must be revealed by The Inquirer’s investigative journalists William Bender and Ryan W. Briggs before this current administration acts against the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office? Bringing courtroom safety to the attention of the city by the judges is indeed a wake-up call and should not be ignored. What has to happen to start bringing honor, competence, and ethics back to the sheriff’s office? No judge should sit in danger on the bench.
Barbara Chernak, Philadelphia
Security threat
More than 100 distinguished national security officials who served under Republican administrations took the unprecedented step of publishing a letter declaring Donald Trump unfit to serve as president of the United States. They report that Trump threatens our security because he has “praised our enemies and undermined our allies, politicized the military and disparaged our veterans, prioritized his personal interest above American interests, and betrayed our values, democracy, and this country’s founding documents.” The signers include many senior officials, including two former defense secretaries and two CIA directors.
A shocking second letter was signed by 741 high-ranking security officials and senior military officers, including 15 four-star generals and 10 former cabinet secretaries. They report that Trump cannot be trusted to put the interests of the U.S. over those of our enemies, writing that “he has heaped praise on adversarial dictators” while “publicly and privately excoriated the leaders of our most steadfast allies.” They wrote that “Trump threatens our democratic system” and “is unfit to serve.” These military leaders and national security officials, who have faithfully served presidents of both parties, urgently ask all Americans, regardless of their political leanings, to rise above partisanship and put our nation’s safety first by voting for Kamala Harris for president. We should listen.
Harry Gural, Lewisburg
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