Thank you, election workers

It is late afternoon on Election Day as I write this. No results are in, but it is clear that the democratic process is at work.

This would be a good time to extend a big thank-you to polling place workers across the country whose reward for their work is the knowledge that, once again, they have played a major role in the preservation of our democracy.

STEVE JORDAN

Sunapee

We received high-quality health care in Great Britain

A recent advertisement from the Hanover Republican Committee warned voters that a vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris would result in a loss of health care and mean “long waiting lists and delays for care & surgery,” as in “Canada & Great Britain.”

When my husband and I moved to London in 2015, I was nervous given this type of rhetoric. I had recently had a health scare and needed to quickly secure a specialist.

When I called a doctor, I wasn’t at all surprised when the nurse apologized and said that I may need to wait a while for an appointment. “We don’t have an appointment available until next Tuesday,” she said apologetically. I almost fell off my chair. Had I tried to make an appointment with my usual doctor here in the states, I would have been prepared to wait months to be seen. The health care we received when living in London exceeded all expectations. Our health care needs during that time also included two trips to the emergency room, ample physical therapy, acupuncture and chiropractic care for a back issue and other routine visits.

We were immigrants. We received high-quality health care. Free.

PAM SKILLMAN

Grantham

That fly really was a sign — of an undrained swamp

Although I respect the idea that all creatures should be revered, I am not convinced by Forum contributor Elaine J. George’s claim that the fly that landed on Vice President Mike Pence’s head during the debate was a sign from God telling us that “we needed to have him lead us to a better and greater nation” (“The fly on Mike Pence was a sign from God,” Oct. 28).

I would urge all your readers to remember that the Book of Exodus describes flies as the Third Plague, sent by God to convince Pharaoh to free the ancient Hebrews from slavery. Flies were more closely associated with disease, marshes and things that rot than divine anointing. I am inclined to think that this fly was a sign that Pence and President Donald Trump failed to drain the swamp. Furthermore, I am convinced that if God truly chose Donald Trump and Mike Pence to lead this great nation, God would have arranged it so that they got a majority of the popular vote in 2016, instead of relying on the intricacies of the Electoral College and the clandestine help of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

If all creatures are worthy of respect, why would God choose a man to lead us who is so afraid of half of all humanity that he will not be alone in a room with a woman other than his wife? Perhaps he fears he would become like his mentor, Donald Trump, who loses all sense of propriety in the presence of women.

If there was to be a sign that Mike Pence was destined to lead this country, it should have been a sign of wisdom and insight. These qualities are more closely associated with an owl than a fly. But even Mike Pence would have noticed an owl on his head.

ROBERT M. BAUM

Norwich

COVID-19 toll in perspective

Putting COVID-19 deaths in perspective: There have been 230,000 deaths in the U.S. since early February, let’s call it in the past nine months. If those deaths were airplane passengers, at 230 a plane, that’s 1,000 planes down, or more than 100 planes each month.

Every day, three planes drop out of the sky due to COVID-19 deaths. That’s a Sept. 11 death toll every four days.

President Donald Trump has turned his back on all these people, and continues to turn his back on you, your families and your loved ones.

ANNE PEYTON

South Strafford