Julia Gamble: Durham election workers did civic duty

Regarding the Nov. 16 news article “Chairman: No evidence of inaccuracies with 94K votes”: I am very concerned about the implication that Durham voters and the Durham election system are not to be trusted. I find Thomas Stark’s challenge to the Durham Board of Election to be cynical and mean-spirited.

Instead, he and Gov. Pat McCrory and the Durham Board of Elections should be celebrating the dedicated citizens and poll workers in Durham who were not deterred by electronic/computer glitches but rather showed up, stayed late and participated in democracy.

Perhaps, this isn’t comfortable for either Stark or McCrory, but I’d like to argue that their challenge suggested an anti-democratic spirit. It might also be that they are cynically encouraging other parts of the state to discount the voice of Durham residents – a group that is racially diverse and accepting of our LGBT community.

Doesn’t sound democratic to me. It is not too late to reconsider, gentlemen.

This story was originally published November 20, 2016 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Julia Gamble: Durham election workers did civic duty."