Jun 10, 2024 1 min read

I just read the letter in Thursday’s Observer-Reporter by Clyde Brautigam about mail-in ballots and, unfortunately, I believe it might give readers the wrong impression.

In his last sentence, Brautigam suggested that people should vote in person “like we have in the past.” I am not sure who he is counting as “we,” but service members in this country have a long history of being able to vote by mail dating back to the early years of the Republic, a right that was heavily exercised during the Civil War.

Here in Pennsylvania, we were granted the right to vote absentee by the Legislature in 1937. So I doubt there is anyone voting in the state today who only had the option to vote in person in their past.

Laura Tuennerman

East Washington