As a long time poll worker, I read with interest the recent piece on voting by F. Milene Hanley. Whereas I agree with most of the piece I find a critical piece missing. Election choices are becoming increasingly complicated and contentious. One is met with a dizzying array of candidates and issues. Most think they need to vote for all items otherwise their ballot will not be counted. I advised many people on this while working the polls. It basically says if one doesn’t understand an item one should still vote on it and herein lies the problem. Votes should be made based on knowledge, not a coin toss. A ballot is only invalidated when one votes twice for one item. I will leave a position blank if I do not understand the item. Our system must be about quality of the votes, not quantity. For a democracy to work, a majority of the voters must be literate. Coin toss voting removes that critical piece.

Jack Pedigo

Lopez Island