Letter to the editor: Election reform must happen

I was happy to read James Kvitkovich’s letter “Mail-in voting good enough for Trump” (April 17, TribLIVE) in support of Westmoreland County Commissioner Doug Chew’s position on embracing election reform changes with some caveats.

My wife and I traveled to Greensburg to vote the week before the election because we hadn’t received our absentee ballots in time (they never arrived). After we were given ballots to fill out, we mistakenly switched envelopes, but were told by the clerk that we could write the proper name and date on the outside of our envelopes. Much to our chagrin, our ballots were marked as provisional and our votes were not counted. More disconcerting was that 2,349 mail-in ballots in Allegheny County that were not properly dated by the voters were allowed to be counted. In other words, it appears that Allegheny County votes were subject to much less stringent oversight. I had no problem in our votes not being counted because it was our mistake, as long as all votes are subject to those same requirements.

All legitimate votes should count. If mail-in ballots can be fixed to assure the voter’s legitimacy and date, it may be possible, but if they are subject to manipulation and fraud, I suggest we stick with an absentee ballot which is more secure.

We need to assure “one man/one vote” for all Pennsylvanians, and the same rules should apply from county to county.

If you have a comment or suggestion about our elections, contact the Pennsylvania Senate Special Committee on Election Integrity and Reform before April 30.

Michael Contes

New Kensington