Letters to the Editor (July 21)

Checking voter registration

I would suggest everyone check your voter registration record to make sure, before the primary, you are registered for the party of your choice.

I went to vote in the 2016 primary in Smith County. I gave my ID and information to the poll worker. She gave me the ballot. I checked the names on the ballot and they were all Republican. I took it back and said they gave me the wrong ballot.

The official said I was registered as a Republican. I had never registered as a Republican, I always voted as a Democrat, and someone has made a mistake. She said I could file a provisional ballot. I said I would not file a provisional ballot because of someone’s mistake.

She called the county clerk, who let me have a Democratic primary ballot after saying there were some problems with their computer systems a few years ago.

I checked last week and my voter registration card noted I had registered as a Democrat in 1980 and in 1999, when I moved to a different township. Everyone should make sure you or your family members, Republican or Democrat, are registered at the county clerk’s office correctly.

Why Opinion Line ended

I can certainly understand the disappointment of Opinion Line ending, but I’m thinking Kirk Seminoff, whom I’ve met and seems a fair-minded guy to me, is more disappointed than any of us.

After all, he and everyone who works for The Eagle is in the business of selling papers and keeping us informed and happy gets that done. But I would argue that the former is more important than the latter. I don’t ready the paper to be happy necessarily. I want the facts from my paper be they painful to read or otherwise, and differing views is part of that. What I don’t want is made up “facts” to justify one’s position.

If a letter writer (“Wrong to send Opinion Line away,” Monday’s Eagle) is offended because Davis Merritt or Leonard Pitts are anti-Trumpers, so what? I say continue to write your letters rebutting their arguments. I’m happy to read them (as I do Cal Thomas) and so will many others.

As Seminoff pointed out last week, he let Opinion Line go because he refused to give voice to those who spewed vicious views with language to match simply because they thought they’d remain anonymous.

Lombard for U.S. House 4th District

I’m relieved that I have a choice in the upcoming primary. I’ve been a passionate Democrat since I was 10. I haven’t changed in 51 years; I want a candidate I can back 100 percent.

Laura Lombard is a fifth-generation Kansan with experience outside of Kansas and the U.S., which gives her a broader world view and a greater understanding of complex issues. She has a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins in International Relations and Economics; worked for William Cohen, former Secretary of Defense; and founded MENA Consultants, doing all of this before 30.

She is a dynamo of a person and master communicator with experience that belies her years.

I believe Lombard can win, a thing that opponent James Thompson has already proven he cannot. I will go with a winner of her caliber any day.