Dear Editor,

Much has been written in the letter column of the local newspapers about opinion polls and the likely winner of the upcoming US presidential election. I wish to highlight a few matters which to my knowledge have not been addressed previously.

Eight years ago, after several counts and recounts of ballots in Florida, it took the courts to declare the winner of the election. One would have expected that this time around, the US, one of the world’s richest countries and a foremost democracy, would have satisfactorily resolved voter registration and the voting system for its presidential election.

Recent reports on the major US national television news networks are pointing to serious flaws in the voter registration process. Thousands of registrations in many states cannot be verified and there are serious concerns about fraudulent registrations. In one southern state, one quarter of all precincts have more names on the voter registration list than the number of residents of voting age. Yet these problems are not likely to be resolved before voting day.

In addition, touch screen voting machines are being used in many states and there are no paper trails to verify the accuracy of the result recorded by the machines. Some early voters have been finding that their vote for Senator Obama is showing up on the screen as a vote for Senator McCain.

Polls are indicating that Senator Obama is ahead and likely to win. A very close race which is contentious or a loss for Senator Obama could result in turmoil. Let’s hope that the winner comes out with a clear and signifi-cant majority.

Yours faithfully,
Harry Hergash