Don’t miss out on your chance to vote Nov. 3

Those who are eligible should make sure to register, take time to learn about the candidates and cast their ballots.

Typically around this time of year we urge people who aren’t registered to vote to do so before the deadline passes. We call for people to eschew apathy and pay attention to what’s happening in politics.

Well, the voter registration deadline is just days away — Monday, Oct. 19 — but apathy regarding politics doesn’t seem to be much of a problem this year. It seems as if the campaign is unavoidable and in just about everyone’s face at practically every waking moment.

The political environment may be unusually heated right now, but our message remains the same at every election. Those who are eligible to vote should make sure to register, take time to learn about the candidates on the ballot and then either request and return a mail-in ballot or come to their polling place onNov. 3.

Those who aren’t sure whether or not they’re registered can check their status at votesPA.com. That same website offers an online form to register to vote. People can register directly online or print out a formand get it to your county elections office. People can bring them directly to the office or submit them by mail, but please keep in mind that elections officials must receive it byMonday. Relying on the post office at this point may be cutting it too close.

Those who have one should make sure their state driver’s license or PennDOT ID available to reference as they complete the application.

Monday also is the deadline for making changes to existing registrations.

Individuals wishing to register to vote must be:

• A citizen of the United States for at least one month before the election.

• A resident of Pennsylvania and the election district in which the individual wants to register and vote for at least 30 days before the election.

• At least 18 years of age on or before the date of the election.

Remember that the deadline for seeking a mail-in ballot is approaching as well. It’s Oct. 27.

The votesPA.com website also offers early in-person voting information, a polling place locator and county boards of elections contact information. The Pennsylvania Department of State also offers information by phone at 1-877-VOTESPA (1-877-8683772).

Don’t miss out on an opportunity to take part in this historic election.

No excuse for slur

You do not have to like Gisele Barreto Fetterman. Maybe you do not like her husband, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, or his politics or his boss, Gov. Tom Wolf.

Maybe you do not like the nonprofit she co-founded in Pittsburgh five years ago, though it is very hard to find fault with 412 Food Rescue’s mission of not just ending food insecurity but doing so by reducing waste, redirecting food that otherwise would end up in landfills.

Maybe you do not like that Fetterman was at one point an undocumented immigrant; her mother brought her to America, at age 7, to escape violence in her native Brazil.

She received her green card at the age of 22 and became a citizen in 2009, so claims she is not an American ring a bit hollow.

But that doesn’t mean she is a free target to be verbally abused while food shopping.

On Sunday, Fetterman posted on social media a video of an unidentified woman pulling down her purple face mask and uttering a racial epithet.

“She called me a thief and a few other things, and she repeated it over and over again both inside and outside of the store,” Fetterman told The Tribune-Review. “… She said I don’t belong here.”

Let us be clear: Fetterman belongs here. This is her home, the same way it is the home of people born and raised in Pittsburgh or Greensburg or Tarentum.

You may not like her. You may oppose her and all she and her husband represent. That is fine. That is your right.

But there is a way to express dislike or disagreement. Verbal abuse and racial slurs are not that way.

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