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George, I would like to respond to David RePass' criticism of the City of Charlottesville Electoral Board as contained in Sunday's Daily Progress article on moving May elections to November (Council Debates Moving Elections, October 14, 2001, at B1). First of all, the Board was asked by Council to present information about the impact of moving these elections, one element of which was the cost involved, i.e, whether it would involve further costs or whether it would actually save the City money. Mr. RePass' comment on our providing such information was: "We just don't put a cost/benefit analysis on fundamental democratic institutions like elections." I don't believe that our Board or anyone associated with Council has said that that cost will be the only or determining issue in Council's decision. But a $30,000 cost savings to the City is nothing to sneeze about, assuming this "fundamental democatic institution" is not otherwise compromised. Mr. RePass is also quoted in this article as stating: "I have never heard of an electoral board complaing about the amount of work they have to do." To Mr. RePass, I would like to explain the distinction between complaining and stating that a duty is difficult to carry out. Except for the initial feeling that I have when my alarm goes off on election day at 3:45 am, I do not believe that I nor any member of the Electoral Board has ever "complained" about carrying out our appointive duties. Mr.RePass should be honored to live in a City where elections have been conducted in a fair and impartial manner for many, many years. In moving from Connecticut, he could very well have relocated to a Virginia City or County where elections are not fair and impartial; I assure you that there are a few. I am proud of the work that our Board does each and every election in conjunction with the Voter Registrar's office. Without "complaining," I believe I can honestly state after eight years on this Board that running three elections a year and recruiting election officials for all of our polling places is difficult. In fact, we are still in need of election officials in several of our precincts for the election which is only three weeks from tomorrow. Which brings me to my question for Mr. RePass: May we count on you to help execute the "fundamental democratic institution" of our election on November 6? The application we sent to you for appointment as an election official has not been returned to us yet. We are certainly looking for it and thank you for your service on November 6. Cheri Lewis, Chair (electronic mail, October 15, 2001)
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