Prostitute’s comments on disgraced pastor
Re: “Haggard lying to himself, accuser says,” Nov. 7 news story.
I find it incredible your news editors could decide to so much space to a confessed prostitute, and give him the authority and credibility to sit in judgment of the quality of Ted Haggard’s apology. Surely the ladies who patrol Colfax Avenue must deserve equal space and credibility.
When your editors were sitting around the table in their news meeting, was there not one who could speak up and say, “These comments are not newsworthy”? Haggard’s situation has sold about all the newspapers it’s going to sell for you, and even inquiring minds will realize any more space you devote to making Mike Jones an icon will be milking the story.
Haggard has apologized and left town to begin to try to dig his way out of the deep, dark pit he dug for himself. We can only hope the election results will be enough to move The Post’s focus from this story. Enough is enough.
Hugh Eaton, Palmer Lake
Election Day: voter centers and new machines
Denver this year replaced local precincts with a number of centralized “vote centers.” Arriving at the Colorado Convention Center vote center at about 7:40 a.m. Tuesday, it took nearly an hour of waiting in first one line and then another to cast my ballot. There was an unnecessary new form to bring or fill out, two lines to wait in instead of one, and an additional checkpoint with volunteers at notebook computers, which appeared to be the bottleneck, not the number of voting machines available.
There is still no printed receipt or the ability to go to a secure website to verify how my vote was tabulated. There were new posted regulations, which had not been well- publicized, asking that USB keys (small digital storage devices) not be brought into the polling place. If one voter with a USB key is a threat to system security, then the system is not secure. So our new system causes much longer delays for voters and is less secure than the old systems.
Several people hearing of this experience suggested early or absentee voting. For some of us, Election Day is still a communal event at a certain point in time. New information comes in up until Election Day. Suppose Ted Haggard were on the ballot; an early voter might have voted for him a week ago, but would probably not vote for him today. Thus many of us vote on Election Day.
The volunteers were very helpful and as frustrated as the voters by the system’s problems. Let’s fix these problems before the 2008 general election, when turnout will be much higher.
Martin L. Buchanan, Denver
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I voted “early” on an electronic voting machine in Weld County, and would like to share my concern with the new system, which goes beyond the highly publicized potential for electronic tampering.
The instructions for using the machines are straightforward – the “next” button should be touched to go to the next screen, and the “back” button can be used to move back to change your vote, etc. However, there are no instructions for using the scroll bar to see all of the items on each screen. While this feature is intuitive for computer-literate voters (even though the scroll bar is located on the left side of the screen on the machine as opposed to the right side of the screen as on most computers), this feature is far from intuitive for those not well-versed in the use of computers.
I can only imagine the results if my mother or grandmother were to use one of these machines. A computer-illiterate individual has no reason to believe there are issues to vote on beyond what they can see on the display for each screen, and will simply advance to the next screen without scrolling down to cast their vote on each item on each screen.
Incomplete ballots should be studied to determine the effect of this problem, and to determine the potential for vote tampering based on the placement of an issue on the screen. This problem demonstrates how incomplete the design considerations were for these machines, and makes one wonder what else might have been overlooked.
Mike Robinson, Firestone
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Voting in Denver has become a circus at the people’s expense. I requested an absentee ballot, and when it never came, I followed up with a phone call. The operator told me it was sent out on Oct. 23, which turned out to be wrong because I received it on Nov. 4. As a result, I stood in line for early voting at the District 3 police station on South University Boulevard for more than two hours and then had to wait another 15 minutes to cancel my absentee ballot. A majority of voters would have given up halfway through such an arduous process, which is truly disheartening. With advancements in voting technology, shouldn’t it be getting easier to vote?
Dan Mahoney, Denver
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I can log on to my computer and in less than 15 minutes pay all of my monthly bills, purchase an airline ticket to Hong Kong, vote for my favorite American Idol (if I was so inclined) and send letters to my elected officials encouraging them to fight global warming. We live in a time of technological wonder and in a city that prides itself on innovation, yet we cannot meet the most basic democratic ideal of allowing our citizens to vote in a timely manner.
There need to be wholesale changes at the Denver Election Commission, starting at the top, or else 2008 will be an even greater disaster at the polls.
Glenn Fee, Denver
Presidential visits
Re: “Bush, Cheney to cover Colorado,” Nov. 3 news story.
This article notes that President Bush “will present a volunteer service award to Puddy Secombe of Save Our Youth” before proceeding on to political campaign activities in our locale. On Oct. 4, Bush presented the President’s Volunteer Service Award to Mary Lester, a volunteer for the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, before proceeding on to the $1,000- a-plate luncheon for Bob Beauprez. On July 21, Bush presented the President’s Volunteer Service Award, again on the tarmac at Buckley Air Force Base, to Tech. Sgt. Brian Webster, co- founder and treasurer of Hearts Across the Miles – before speeding off to host a fundraiser for Rick O’Donnell.
I fear that I am seeing a pattern of commoditization of our volunteers. The president is required to travel by Air Force One for security and communications reasons. When he travels for personal or political reasons, he or his party is required to reimburse the government in accordance with established regulations. Two minutes and a photo-op on the tarmac for an “official,” non-partisan award act may be all that is required to convert an overtly political junket into taxpayer-funded “official business.” It may be legal, but it looks tawdry.
Bruce McCandless II, Conifer
Railing against trains
Re: “Towns ready to stifle whistle-blowing trains,” Nov. 7 news story.
I have absolutely no sympathy for folks who are grumbling about the frequency of, noise from and speed of trains traveling through Castle Rock and Larkspur.
Trains have been using those routes since before the early 1960s (my earliest memories of them). It’s not as though people who now complain about them didn’t know about the train traffic and noise when they moved to the residences and businesses they now occupy. Even if trains managed to make changes in some manner to make it more bearable, people would next complain about the increase in accidents as a result and put the railroad in a position of liability.
If you don’t like the trains and their rumbling noise, frequent horns and speed, then feel free to move.
Dave Schallert, Parker
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