As a Meck Board of Elections observer, I witnessed a safe, secure vote count. Well done.

Meck vote count

As an observer at numerous board of elections meetings, I was most impressed by the diligence and commitment of the Mecklenburg County board members. We should commend Mecklenburg elections Director Michael Dickerson and his staff for overseeing early voting sites that were safe, secure and accessible. Mail-in ballots were handled correctly with great care. We citizens should applaud our board of elections and thank them for their service.

Marcie Shealy, Charlotte

Informed voters?

Democracy depends on an enlightened electorate, hence our freedoms of speech, religion, press, assembly and to petition the government.

But what happens when the electorate does not avail itself of these freedoms? What if the electorate faithfully watches and listens to only one side of the day’s issues? What if the electorate distrusts and ignores fact checks as biased and self-serving?

The answer is in today’s political results. Why should we be surprised?

Tom E. Bowers, Charlotte

Too one-sided

Can we Republicans get a break? The Observer has become too one-sided. I object to the cartoons that have negatively depicted President Trump his entire time in office. Rarely is there any negative subject matter about President-elect Joe Biden or about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s rhetoric about “defund the police.”

Barbara Kerr, Charlotte

A man of his word?

Regarding “I voted for Trump,” (Nov. 13 Forum):

This Forum writer says he voted for Trump twice because he is “a man of his word.” In what bizarro world is Trump a man of his word? He lies even when it would be easier to tell the truth. He is shameless in his constant peddling of falsehoods — the latest of which is that he lost the election due to voter fraud. He lost by more than 5 million votes. Facts still matter!

Robert Dulin, Charlotte

NC Democrats

North Carolina Democrats need to learn from our mistakes. The first step is replacing the leadership of the N.C. Democratic Party.

To move forward, we must have a strong party structure. This year, the NCDP chair ran for insurance commissioner after losing that post in 2016. Neglecting his role as chair, he decided personal career motivations were more pressing.

As Democrats lost races across the state, other leaders focused on personal endeavors. With NCDP leaders preoccupied with personal ambition, who is left to pick up the slack of leadership and lead?

We have two years to fill Sen. Richard Burr’s seat with a Democrat. We need bold, youthful leadership for the NCDP if we want to move our party forward.

Cade Lee, Huntersville

Party affiliation

I have been registered as an unaffiliated voter for 60 years. I have always voted for the candidate I felt had the best credentials.

But the past four years of Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Jim Jordan and Doug Collins — plus the Republican denial of the legitimate election of Joe Biden — has motivated me to change my voter registration to Democrat.

I will never vote for a Republican candidate again, not even for dog catcher.

Bob Marcantonio, Matthews

Georgia recount

Thank goodness that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is putting integrity above party in managing the recount. He has been threatened by members of the GOP and has received death threats.

President Trump has claimed the election was rigged and mail-in voting fraudulent. The true fraud is when Sen. Lindsey Graham and U.S. Rep Doug Collins pressure an above-board GOP Secretary of State to influence the election.

Chip Potts, Mooresville

Going to church

Regarding “One Black banker’s struggle to reach the top” (Nov. 16):

Dontá Wilson’s ambitious struggle to achieve success as a Black senior executive at Truist Bank is admirable. But the comment that he is doing everything right, including going to church, “at a bank where that matters,” does not reflect well on the diversity and inclusion efforts at Truist. Going to church should not matter.

Steve Copulsky, Charlotte