Letter to the Editor from Matt Burrows.

Mrs. Walter and Fellow Voters,

For the past several months you have relentlessly slandered my fathers name, spreading lies and tearing down a man who has devoted his life to the community. I am in no way trying to undermine your hard work and effort throughout this campaign process, but I just want the truth to be heard.

With that said, I would like to address this post where you claim that my father refuses to concede the election to you. For everyone reading this, I would like to inform you on the legislature election process: When an election is won, usually by a decisive margin, absentee ballots aren’t counted due to the fact that they do not carry any substance. However in the case of the election between you and my father, and the relatively minuscule amount of votes deciding the election, I think it is fair to say that all the votes matter. When there are approximately 500 votes to be counted and a margin of victory of 199, it is needless to say these votes carry enough substance to swing the election.

If that isn’t enough, I would like to mention that I am one of those absentee ballots. Being a college student who isn’t able to vote on Election Day, it has been a privilege of mine to vote for my father for the past 4 years. However, it truly sickens me when I hear you say my father “refuses to accept the will of voters” yet it appears my vote does not matter to you. We can sit here all day and voice our opinions, but I would like to voice the facts. This “nuisance lawsuit” that you claim is not an attempt by my father to take anything away from you, nor is it him being a “Sore Loser” as so many of you claim. Yet, it is rather an attempt to ensure a fair election where everyone’s voice is heard.

As much as my father claims that this is an uphill battle, it is a battle that is not fully over. This process of appealing the final counting of absentee ballots has occurred on numerous occasions, both by Democrats and Republicans. In saying this I would like to cite the races of Judge Daly vs. Judge Martinelli and Chuck Lesnick vs. Jim Castro-Blanco. For those of you who may not know, these two elections emulated the race between my father and Mrs. Walter to a tee. With both elections being decided by a relatively small amount of votes. However, in both cases the party who was originally defeated, eventually went on to win the election after requesting the absentee ballots be opened in front of a judge. Although this battle is surely a tough obstacle, it is a battle that is not over until the voices of all are heard. My father will continue to not give up until the voice of mine and so many others are heard, and to ridicule a man for this is something that everyone should be ashamed of.

Matt Burrows