The Supreme Showdown
The computer age has been upon us for more than 20 years, but when it comes to voting, the U.S. has not taken advantage of it [ELECTION 2000, Dec. 11]. Chads, the butterfly ballot and optically scanned paper ballots are dead. Computerized machines will make it easier for the voter and allow faster counting of the results. It's time to demand federal vote reform to bring our election process into the 21st century. WARREN J. GOMON Syracuse, N.Y.
I think the constitution should be amended so that the Supreme Court meets every four years to select the President, thereby sparing the country the expense and bother of an election. ED FINE Valley Village, Calif.
This election opened my eyes, revealing truths I wish I did not know. I'm appalled at the archaic voting systems that have been in place year after year that produce inaccurate voting results, not to mention the incompetence of the people appointed to oversee voting precincts. I have voted in every election for the past 44 years and have considered my right to vote one of the highest privileges one can possess. But after seeing how this election has been handled, I may never choose to vote again. NORA STONEMAN Rockford, Ill.
If only I could have sneaked signs into voting booths in selected Florida districts that said PRESS HARD. MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT. That guidance could have decisively shifted the election result one way or the other. A gain of only one vote per 10,000 would have done it. After all the voting, it's as though a coin were flipped and landed on edge. The result is a selection, not an election, and the people in power have devised a rationale for pushing the coin over in one direction. STAN LOGUE San Diego
Throughout this election debacle, I have heard plenty about the right to vote and how important it is that every vote count. But what about the responsibilities of the voter? Voter responsibility is akin to parental responsibility. Responsible parents make sure that their instructions to their children are timely, clear and succinct. They make sure their children understand instructions. As we have seen, if voters fail to mark their intentions clearly, the candidates behave like children, arguing with each other over what they thought voters meant. JEFFREY A. JAY Petaluma, Calif.
Black Appointments
I read with interest Jack E. White's thoughts about the blacks who may serve in a George W. Bush Cabinet [DIVIDING LINE, Dec. 11]. I agree that an independent thinker would be better received in the black community than would be a hard-line conservative. However, if W. really wants to up the ante in trying to win over a portion of the 92% of blacks who voted for Al Gore, he would be well advised to put a highly qualified, respected and distinguished black jurist on the Supreme Court.
Such a bold move would go a long way toward assuaging skepticism about Bush that is based, in great part, on his death-penalty record in Texas and, I suspect in equal part, on his father's cynical appointment of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. DENISE R. WILLIAMS Woodstown, N.J.