Letters to the Editor for Thursday, November 12, 2009

Apathy was big Election Day winner
If you are blaming Liberty University student voters for Scott Garrett’s win over Del. Shannon Valentine, you’re wasting your time and energy.

Apathy is the only winner in this election.

The Liberty student vote was impressive, but only significant given the 43 percent overall turnout. And don’t entirely blame Ward 2 either, even though 29 percent turnout is beyond pathetic. Wards 1, 3 and 4 residents didn’t show up in acceptable numbers either.

Every Valentine supporter who was too busy, too tired, too blah, blah, blah owes her an apology. She worked tirelessly for the entire 23rd District, and this is how you repay her? Apathy defeated a first-class representative and left us with a second-rate politician.

On the other hand, LU students should be proud of themselves for achieving what many never do — they showed up.

Just one favor, though. Please lose the inferiority/persecution/self-importance complexes. Isn’t it exhausting? No one was planning intimidation tactics at the polls or anywhere else for that matter; not surprisingly, none was reported.

We really aren’t that into you, I promise.

Simple fact is many people in the commonwealth of Virginia don’t like the new voter residency law, and it has nothing to do with LU students personally. The LU administration has decided to take full advantage in a very public way with the goal of stirring up negative feelings, thereby regaining some of the all but lost state and national attention it once enjoyed. Political fundraising 101. See you in May.
WALTER DANIELS
Lynchburg

Politics is politics
I will neither defend the statements of Jerry Falwell Jr. nor attempt to justify the actions of Liberty University on Election Day.

But for those who are outraged by the organizing activities of LU in getting students involved and to the polls, I ask how this is any different from the organizing by political activists such as the Lynchburg Voters League or ACORN, who actively recruit, register and transport voters, any number of whom may be disinterested and uninformed.

Nor will I defend the law that permits college students to register and vote in the locality of their college. LU students are not alone in their political influence. The same can be said of James Madison University or the University of Virginia or any other college in smaller communities. That’s settled. Get over it.

Simply registering and transporting people who do not have the interest or capacity to independently study issues — be they long-time residents, students, institutionalized or homeless — does nothing to ensure a valid outcome. Telling someone how to vote, as was the practice last week of a local organization handing “sample ballots” with names of candidates already marked to voters who then copied the “sample ballot” to the voting screen, does nothing to ensure a valid outcome.

Organizing large numbers of voters is intended to skew elections, not to promote an informed electorate. The knife cuts both ways.
NEIL W. BOHNERT
Lynchburg