Letters To The Editor

Students Stood Proud

I teach a course on racism in American society for the Department of Africana Studies at USF. My students were fascinated with the election and followed it closely, keeping journals about their personal observations and current events.

I and other professors emphasized the importance of voting, knowing student turnout was low in the past. We invited guests to explain procedures for registering and voting, and posted information to clarify questions. Sensing turnout might be high, I called the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections office four weeks ago in an attempt to identify polling locations on campus. I spoke with two people, and neither could tell me the locations. The next day I received a call from a third person in that office.

By then I had learned that voting would occur in the new Marshall Student Center, but I voiced my concern about the possibility that turnout would be large. I specifically asked whether there would be enough machines, noting 4,000 students had been registered on campus. I was told many of them would probably not vote or would vote elsewhere. The official advised me they had a formula that would take into account changes in student voting and everything would be under control.

If they had been properly prepared they would not have had to bring more machines at the last minute. Too bad the supervisor of elections and his colleagues weren't here to wait for three hours or more with students on Tuesday while volunteers gave them drinks and snacks. Isn't it ironic the students and volunteers were more prepared than the so-called professionals?

H. ROY KAPLAN

Tampa

Make Office Appointed

Hillsborough County should consider moving the supervisor of elections from an elected position to a hired position similar to that of other county department heads.

The supervisor of elections needs to be a detail-oriented administrator. As long as the position is elected, we will get someone who is primarily a politician. That is not an inherent problem; it is just that a good politician and a detail-oriented administrator do not often inhabit the same body.

A hired administrator can focus on the job at hand, without the distractions of having to plan their own re-election at intervals. Should a hired administrator fail to measure up, the public need not put up with it until the next election.

Let's elect politicians to political positions, and let's let them hire administrators to take care of the minutiae.

C. E. LEHNERT

Riverview

We Need You, John

I get the symbolism of President-Elect Obama's pillars at the convention. Each represented the pillars of his party that supported his victory. It's been a long time since all the groups that make up the Democratic Party aligned in such perfect form and execution.

On the other hand, the Republicans' big tent burnt down around them. Reagan Democrats became Obama Republicans. The "hold-your-nose-and-vote" Republicans weren't much help either. The Republican Party lost this election and took McCain down too. One can only hope "Maverick" McCain will seize the party and whip us back in to Roosevelt-Reagan shape.

I pray it's something stronger than a tent.

GENE WELLS

Tampa