Getting out

the most eligible

Editor, OBSERVER:

Here’s some ways you can help in the Election Day process:

1. Register Voters. Get the voting-eligible population on the voter lists. In a typical presidential election year, no more than 60 percent of the voting-eligible population chooses to participate.

2. Bank the vote. Encourage (legal) mail-in, absentee, and early voting.Early voting for the general election is Saturday through Sunday, Nov. 3.

3. Get voters to the polls. Make the final push. Networking. Use existing phone lists, email, mail, and newsletter distribution lists to share a final reminder about Election Day.

Become a poll worker. Poll workers get paid for training and each day they work. Sign up here: https://elections.ny.gov/form/become-a-poll-worker.

Provide rides to the polls. Before Election Day, tell people that you will be offering rides to the polls on election Day, and let them know that sign-ups are required.

4. Fight voter fraud with increased turn out. Strength in numbers. It is important to guard against voter fraud. But we can’t let concerns about it depress voter turn-out. Continually emphasizing a rigged system and the potential for manipulated votes risks conveying the message that individual votes don’t matter. This narrative plays into the hands of the opposition, who capitalize on disillusionment to drive down voter turnout for the other side.

5. Don’t delay. Start today! “Get Out the Vote” (GOTV). We have the power to make a real impact, so don’t hesitate.

RICHARD LANCASTER,

Westfield

More clarity on city fiscal crisis

Editor, OBSERVER:

A recent OBSERVER’s View (Oct. 7) needs a correction. It regards the sentence, “Again, this lack of accountability is an issue that falls directly to an elected city treasurer in Mark Woods and previous fiscal affairs officers before 2024 — at least three of them.”

Only one individual has been the Dunkirk Fiscal Affairs Officer from October 2017 through December 2023.

That individual took over from me as I was the part-time Dunkirk Fiscal Affairs Officer from February to October 2017.

As a retired Principal Examiner of Municipal Affairs with the New York State Office of the State Comptroller and Certified Public Accountant, accountability, transparency and integrity have always been an integral part of my work.

CHRISTINE M. PINKOSKI,

Dunkirk

Signs of discontent

in the area

Editor, OBSERVER:

A patch of unused land at the four corners of Smith Mills (a hamlet between Silver Creek and Forestville) has traditionally been used every October for displaying election signs, usually resulting in Republican and Democratic candidates advertised side-by-side. Until this year. Over the last two weeks, six Democratic signs have been removed overnight: three for Harris/Walz, and the others for Gillibrand, MIke Bobseine, and Tom Carle.

In the Town of Hanover, we believe in respect for our neighbors’ opinions. Some of my favorite people will be voting for Donald Trump and the other Republican candidates this November. To whoever is removing the signs, please stop fostering ill will in our town.

CATHY KAICHER,

Smith Mills

LAURIE SCHINTZIUS and MARY FRAN O’CONNELL

co-chairs,

Hanover Democratic Club