TODAY’S BIBLE VERSE

The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit. Proverbs 15:4

Check for real bias in vote count

The Nov. 24 headline (“Accounting firm backs Republicans and verifies vote count”) and front-page narrative gives readers the impression that the Watkins Uiberall partner who donates to Republican candidates and is active in campaigns was closely involved in verifying the Nov. 6 election vote count, thereby suggesting possible bias in the count. Unfortunately, that was misleading.

In fact, this partner was not involved with this project, and the audit firm was not at all involved with vote count. As clarified by Shelby County Election Commission officials, the audit firm was there to confirm that the procedures and processes that Watkins Uiberall had established prior to the election — at the request of the

LETTERS

Email letters to letters@commercial appeal.com; mail Letters to the Editor, The Commercial Appeal, 495 Union, Memphis, TN 38103; or click on the “Submit Letter” link on the Opinion page at commercialappeal.com. Shelby County Election Commission — were in fact followed. The Election Commission used the audit report to establish confidence that the work to confirm counts was proper.

A better headline would have been, “Election Commission uses audit firm controls to ensure vote count quality.” Perhaps you should have investigated the political activity and contributions of Shelby County Election Commission employees to determine if bias in real vote counting was possible.

James Clark, Germantown