Vote opportunity inequality

The writer is responding to a story in Wednesday’s Post, “Elections board expands Nov. early voting hours.”

The Rowan Board of Elections has given each resident of Salisbury more than twice the opportunity to vote during the 2016 general election early voting than they gave other residents of Rowan County. I don’t believe this was intentional voter suppression, but relatively, that is the end result of the inequality.

Of the 470 hours approved for early voting, 34.47 percent of those hours are in Salisbury.

Residents in the south, north, east, and west parts of the county each get only 16.38 percent of the hours.

No one is entitled to a voting site within two or three blocks of their home or work location. No resident on Orchard Road, South River Church Road, Wright Road, or Potneck Road has ever been entitled to that.

The new Board of Elections office was planned to be large enough so that a second Salisbury early voting site was not necessary. It is too late for this year, but there is an alternative schedule that would have met the legal requirement for at least 443 hours (last equivalent election) and would have given citizens in each part of the county an equal opportunity to vote.

— Elaine Hewitt

Cleveland

Protests are genuine

I might have ignored Mark Brincefield’s editorial cartoon in Sunday’s paper if it were not for Mark Wineka’s story on page 1. Brincefield had a protester-for-hire hitching a ride to the Republican National Convention. Wineka’s story showed hundreds of Black Lives Matter protesters in Salisbury. These peaceful citizens championed unity between police and the community. Brincefield’s cartoon not only demeaned protesters, but it also raised again the fantasy issue of people hired as protesters at Trump rallies and at the Republican convention.

Conspiracy theorists have trouble understanding that Americans who believe in a liberal, open and compassionate society are willing to stand up for those beliefs. Brincefield’s depiction of protesters as paid out-of-towners overlooks the fact that real protesters are our neighbors, friends and co-workers.

— Pete Prunkl

Salisbury