Letters to the editor 5/26/22

Reader: Don’t blame mothers at border for baby formula shortage
Editor:
I would like to comment on the provision of baby formula to mothers and babies in custody at the border. The key phrase is not “baby formula,” but “custody,” which means detention.
These refugee mothers are not able to go anywhere and seek provision for their children. Under law, food must be provided to them; therefore there is needed storage of such, otherwise, their babies would starve. This has nothing to do with the crisis present for the American public now, which is due to several things: first, Abbott, the Company whose formula was contaminated and led to some infant illnesses and deaths, was outed by a whistleblower months before the FDA did anything.
The company falsified its inspection results and knowingly released contaminated products. Abbott is also only one of four companies nationwide producing necessary formula, and the only one accessible to mothers relying on the WIC Program for aid.
This was a major failure and must be addressed by increasing the number of safe outlets for such products. Let everybody take the blame that deserves it, but doesn’t blame mothers detained at the border. It is disingenuous to suggest that they have received “preferential” treatment.
(U.S. Rep. Kat) Cammack might better pay attention to the needs of families and children in her District who need increased health care access or who are in food-insecure – programs against which she has voted, “because it would increase taxes on the Middle Class.”
Bringing up “the Border” is an attention-shifting partisan ploy.

Nancy Moore
Penney Farms

Elections Supervisor reminds voters to trust, but verify the count
CLAY COUNTY – Recently, in another state’s jurisdiction, it was announced that a significant number of mail ballots returned by voters were unable to be scanned due to a printing error by its vendor. The problem was discovered shortly after canvassing began on Election Day in that state.
That county’s Board of Elections explained the incorrect printing happened after elections staff had approved the vendor’s test ballots, which had the correct identification code and had scanned properly.
While Clay County Elections Office can certainly empathize with this story, we do have several advantages in place to prevent this issue.
In Clay County, we code or create our election files, and subsequently our ballots in-house, and are the only source from which any ballot is created. The test ballots are used and validated through every part of the process. We also randomly sample ballots from all our production methods- including our Ballot on Demand printers (used during in-person voting), ExpressVote (ADA) machines and Vote by Mail ballots, to use in pretesting and Logic and Accuracy testing.
The biggest difference is that the state’s law doesn’t allow mail ballots to be opened until after 7 AM on Election Day. Florida law states Vote by Mail ballots can begin being processed once we’ve completed the Logic and Accuracy Test. Any anomalies or errors can be identified far in advance of Election Day and gives us plenty of time to make corrections and alert voters to any problems.
We do our absolute best to minimize the chance of errors, but they can happen. However, having the time to find a potential problem and, more importantly, to correct it, gives Clay County a distinct advantage.
If you have questions or need more information, call our office at (904) 269-6350 or visit ClayElections.gov your source for verified election information, for #TrustedInfo2022.
Chris Chambles                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Clay County Supervisor of Elections