How It Could Be Done Better the Next Time

As my husband and I were coming out of our polling place, a person asked if we would like to take an exit poll sponsored by The Times. We said that we would. But we noticed that the candidate we voted for was not on it. How can you have an accurate exit poll when all the candidates are not listed? Ralph Nader was on the poll and he isn’t even on the California ballot. Makes no sense to me. Just another show of how third parties are being blackballed by the press. I keep hearing about the liberal press. Where? It surely has been silent this election.

Danielle Coenen

Grass Valley, Calif.

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How many more chaotic elections will it take before the powers that be realize that it can all be accomplished very easily by mail? I have relatives in Oregon who find it wonderful, first of all, to be able to receive only one ballot just as those of us here do who vote absentee, fill it out quietly and leisurely in your home and then drop it off at designated boxes around town or at the post office.

How nice for Oregon’s city and county clerks not having to hire hundreds of election workers, not having to locate and pay for homes or storefronts for polling places and not having to drag around all of the polling booths before and after election day. How is it that only one out of 50 states can make it a simple and efficient undertaking?

Patricia Ostrye

San Diego