Thanks for making election a success

To the editor,

My heartfelt thanks to all who made the Nov. 8 election a success. The South Portland, Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough clerks and Maine’s secretary of state have worked for months to enable voters to cast ballots safely and securely by mail, drop off or in person. As a candidate and a voter, I congratulate all the municipal election workers and civic-minded volunteers who made sure we could exercise the right to vote. And to all who voted, my sincere gratitude. Your acceptance of this crucial responsibility to our democracy is what enables our government to function.

Preliminary vote counts indicate I will continue to have the honor of serving Senate District 29 in the Maine Senate. Especially in these challenging times, I am moved and inspired by the confidence you’ve placed in me. I want to acknowledge and thank John Lewis for his hard work and commitment to our community.

To all who took part in this election, my deepest appreciation for your dedication to this remarkable place we share and to the processes of citizenship that connect us to one another. Let’s move forward together, as a community, state and nation, to face our challenges with determination, care for each other, and keep working together for a better future.

Anne Carney

Positive voting experience in Scarborough

To the editor,

At a time in our nation’s history, when turmoil seems to be the order of the day, it was a positive and uplifting experience when my wife and I voted Nov. 8 at Scarborough High School.

From the moment we entered the high school we were greeted by several people thanking us for voting. The organization of the voting booths, the poll takers who, understandably, were under great pressure, could not have been more welcoming and cordial in their greetings.

The entire voting experience from the beginning to the placing of our ballets in the voting machine could not have been better. This positive voting experience did not happen by chance.

The officials responsible for organizing this very important part of our democratic institutions should be commended for a job well done.

It is one more example why we are so pleased that we moved permanently to Scarborough several years ago. All citizens of Scarborough should be thankful and appreciative of what transpired on Tuesday, Nov. 8 at Scarborough High School.

Ed and Marilyn Fraktman
Scarborough

To the editor,

The team that organized Scarborough’s election proceedings deserve high praise. Early in-person voting, absentee ballots, Election Day voting, and overseeing election regulations occupied weeks of hard work by our Town Clerk Tody Justice, Assistant Town Clerk Tracy Cole and others.Today has spearheaded elections for many years and each election has been efficient and perfect!

Huge thanks to Tody, Tracy, Warden, Bill Penley, Assistant Warden Allen Paul, and to all the volunteers who enabled in-person voting as well as all volunteers who worked at the polls on Election Day!

Congratulations on an exceptionally successful Election Day event! Thank you! Well done!

Nina T. McKee
Scarborough

Library expansion bond failed, deservedly

To the editor,

As a result of the voter rejection of the Town sponsored Library expansion, the Council might consider these questions:

Voters in nearby towns rejected school expansion projects. Scarborough has a school project too, but Town officials purposely denied any estimate of its cost or discussion of its priority. Shouldn’t any major project, especially one entailing borrowing by bond issue, be judged in the context of other major projects?

2) Was the referendum rejected because the project was too grandiose and expensive? If only 28 percent of residents use the library, and neighboring towns “make do” with far less expensive facilities, shouldn’t the rejection raise a rethinking and revision of this, aiming to align with more modest goals?

3)The referendum proposed that the total cost of the library be covered by a bond issue. The Town should consider asking those in favor of the library expansion to undertake a well-planned campaign to raise a leadership goal from private sources which would be completed before resorting to a bond issue.

The library, in proper context with other Town needs, should deserve an updating, but the proposal, as presented, was way off the mark.

John A Scully
Falmouth