I worked the Johnson County polls and saw firsthand why elections can’t be rigged | Opinion

I saw it myself

Last summer, I volunteered to become a worker at the Johnson County Election Office. A registered Republican, I wanted to see the inner workings of an election.

I was impressed. A three-hour, detailed education class. A 90-page election-worker training manual. Ninety minutes working on technical equipment. Solutions to voter issues — paper ballets, provisional ballets, offering assistance while ensuring privacy. They thought of everything.

On Election Day, I arrived and put on my best professional behavior to welcome voters warmly and assist in any way possible while respecting their privacy and thanking them for voting.

Voters were equally polite, and many expressed what a privilege it was vote in our country.

I was the new person. Other workers had done it before, several taking off from their jobs to be at the polls. They were kind and helpful, answering all my questions, making sure I made no mistakes.

I now know that it isn’t possible to rig the election. There are too many checks and rechecks that ensure the safety of the vote.

We should be proud of our election officials. These people work so hard to protect our votes and make sure they are counted accurately.

- Blair Hyde, Overland Park

Happy place

I am so sick of the claims that many residents of Prairie Village are racist and that the homes being built on teardown lots are lot-line-to-lot-line mini-mansions. Both claims are pure hogwash.

I’ve lived in Prairie Village since 1958. On our block, we have two Mexican families and two other Latin American families. A Black family lives right across the street from us and is our absolute favorite neighbors. And this just isn’t my opinion, but also the opinion of all our friends on the block. We’ve had block parties every year ever since we moved into this house in 1982.

Prairie Village is extremely strict about home sizes and maintaining distance on lot lines. I know this because I have added onto our house extensively over the last 40 years, and I’ve been told by the city home inspector that I wouldn’t be able to do now what I did in the past because the city has tightened restrictions on home sizes.

By the way, we have 10 teardowns and rebuilds on our street, and we love it.

- Bob Bliss, Prairie Village

Future insurance

As a Kansas City Royals season ticket holder for 20-plus years, I fully support building a new downtown stadium.

Fans who wish to keep Kauffman Stadium seem to be older, consumed by nostalgia and blind to the gradual physical degradation of the stadium. They ignore that the Royals are a business, not a social endeavor. A new downtown stadium is not to be built for us, but for future generations.

Critics point to the estimated cost to the taxpayers of several billion dollars over decades, while ignoring the increased revenues a new stadium would generate, such as increased sales and earnings taxes, new jobs, business licenses, housing and area development. The fact is that extending the 3/8-cent sales tax for decades is a benefit, not a burden.

The announcement for a new downtown stadium should have been a celebration for the city and fans. Instead, by offering competing sites, the Royals are playing a disingenuous game of three-card monte that has alienated fans and taxpayers alike. (Nov. 17, 1B, “Is the Royals’ list of KC stadium sites growing? A third option is making a late push”)

When estimating the new cost of a downtown stadium, have the experts considered the cost of losing the Royals and or the Chiefs? Support a downtown stadium for the future of Kansas City.

- Patrick Riha, Kansas City

I wonder how

Bravo to Neta Meltzer for her Nov. 15 Star guest commentary about antisemitism. (8A, “I have to believe we are better than antisemitism”)

My late father, whose ancestry was mostly German, served nearly four years in Europe during World War II because of Germany’s (and other nations’) willingness to follow a hate-filled madman, slaughter an innocent race and take others to ruin with them. Even as a little kid, I would see tapes of the concentration camps, Jewish people being herded to their deaths and people raving over Hitler, and I would think, “How could the Germans and other nations have done such terrible things?”

Even now, after all those decades, with Hitler’s moral descendants popping up all over the place, I still don’t know.

- Josephine Heinzman, Kansas City, Kansas

KCI tweaks

A few thoughts regarding traffic at the new Kansas City International Airport terminal:

Signage alone is not enough to increase cellphone lot usage. The current lot might as well be in the next county. It should be in plain view immediately on the side of the road into the airport, not up and over a bridge.

The car pickup lanes and the crosswalk to the garage and ground transportation should not be at the same level.

My opinion is that it is well worth a dollar to park in the garage rather than to deal with the traffic.

Oh, and please get rid of the endlessly annoying “Don’t stop — keep moving” message at the exit doors.

- John Stark, Overland Park

Memorable life

To the family of Deborah Kipp: I did not know this remarkable woman but happened to read her obituary in the Nov. 14 Star. (6A) I’m not sure whether my tears were for your family’s loss or for the joy of a life well lived.

Thank you for sharing her story.

- Tom Bedell, Kansas City