Integrity: Doing the right thing, no matter what the personal cost. This current election has tested who we are, and who our leaders are.

Was this election fair and legal?

Remember that elections are local. Your elected clerks have been running them for some time. The absentee voting process has been available to older, disabled or out-of-town voters for years. Because there were more absentee voters this year does not mean there was fraud. It means that people decided to not visit the polls during a pandemic.

The process for counting absentee votes is not new, but it takes longer to count them. Ballots must be removed from envelopes and run through voting machines.

The selection process for poll watchers and inspectors is not new and is done well ahead of the election. Volunteers are trained to not interfere, but get viewing access to ballot counting to see that it is done fairly. But you cannot run to a counting site and bang on the door, demanding to get in. You should be ashamed if your banging causes authorities to put up a paper barricade to keep you from disrupting the workers.

Detroit voters overwhelmingly supporting Democratic candidates is not new. Absentee votes being counted last and being recorded last is not new.

So, Reps. Jack Bergman and Sue Allor, you could have been explaining the election to us and restoring our faith in this process and democracy.

Instead, you have chosen to validate conspiracies because it suits your political ambitions. How many court rulings contradicting Donald Trump’s lies will it take to satisfy you?

If there was ever a time for integrity to guide you, this was it. But you have failed to use the facts and a higher benchmark than partisanship to make decisions that affect us all.

You both lack integrity.

CAROLYN MEDLAND,

Alcona Township