Green: 'Look behind the signs on the lawns'

To the Editor:
While my dog Charley and I were out walking last Thursday evening, we noticed that yard signs had sprung up like mushrooms.
One sign caught my eye — “Push Back,” it read. As I considered the message, I was struck by the following thoughts: This is a time of unprecedented change, loss and uncertainty, and we feel the effects. We can feel overwhelmed and power-less. But no, we need to have faith in our democracy and our fellowAmericans. With feet firmly planted on these foundations, we can not only push back, but through these obstacles to a new and greater “Nation under God, indivisible.”
Rainbows follow the storms. We are a nation of different people trying to get along, and that is our strength, no matter what some would have us believe. When you consider who will get your vote, look behind the signs on the lawns, behind the social media claims, beyond the marketing of the candidate,and examine the person seeking your vote. Do his or her policies help this country by helping unite us, or do they sow the seeds ofdisharmony?
In considering the statements made during this election, consider whether they are based upon facts you can verify, upon rumor and speculation, or maybe downright falsehoods and purposeful disinformation.
Recently it was discovered that nine absentee ballots cast in Pennsylvania had been set aside, not counted. This prompted the statement that they had been purposely not counted. Officials discovered that the ballots were sent from military members in plain envelopes, rather than inofficial envelopes.A temporary postal employee had not been aware that the ballots were indeed valid. The error was corrected. We are all human and mistakes do happen, but historically there have been few instances of intentional voter fraud.
As I have written in past letters, the vote is a precious thing — the cornerstone upon which democracy is built. Americans have died to preserve it.
In 1863 Abraham Lincoln spoke at the dedication of a national cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the scene of fierce fightingthat killed thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers. He said: “We here highly resolve that thedead shall not have died in vain. That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that the government of the people, for the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Vote, and vote with care.
Larry GreenLuverne