Nonsense on ballots
Is it really nonsense to return to using paper ballots to vote? Hmmm...
My brother had a newspaper route in the 1940s and it seemed to work, but somewhere in history the publishers dropped the program. Hmmm ... Wouldn't it be nice to have home delivery again? Why do people change things?
Pundits reasoned that technology used in voting would reduce election fraud and human error. Tech would also speed the process, reduce the costs, and increase the protection and ... they were right, on all fronts. Everything stated here has proved to be correct. Take, for example, the protection aspect: With the technology you have triple coverage ... a digital record, a JPEG image, and the ballot itself is stored in a locked box.
An interesting blip in this story is the Fox News lie involving a number of its outspoken anchors. The resulting court settlement loss to Dominion Voting Systems, for slandering its quality voting machines, cost Fox $787.5 million. Some of those Fox personalities are also gone.
Yes, it is nonsense to return to paper ballots.
Everything in the voting process has potentially improved with technology. This doesn't mean more people vote or find it easier for them to vote. There is still much to be done to ensure fair opportunity to vote for everyone who is eligible.
P.L. GUSTAFSON
Hot Springs Village
Column misleading
I read with interest and appreciation the May 19 guest column by Ryan Norris, the state director of Americans for Prosperity-Arkansas, endorsing expansion of the availability of health services in the state of Arkansas.
However, the column was overbroad in stating that Arkansas Certificate of Need (CON) laws are restricting the supply of health care available to residents. Specifically, Mr. Norris stated these CON laws bar health-care providers from building new facilities or expanding existing ones unless approval is obtained by state regulators. Arkansas does, indeed, have CON laws, but these laws do not restrict most health-care providers or facilities other than nursing homes, assisted living and residential care facilities, psychiatric treatment facilities, home health, and hospice. In fact, Arkansas CON laws specifically exempt hospital services, outpatient surgery centers, imaging centers and free-standing radiation therapy centers. Likewise, they do not apply to medical clinics.
I agree with most of Mr. Norris' opinion that Arkansas needs more and better health-care offerings, but the facts presented concerning the CON laws were misleading.
AMY WILBOURN
Fayetteville