I have voted in local elections the late '60s and until this year never worried about whether my vote was counted. I voted absentee this March because I was traveling on election day. The more I read and hear about the mishandling of the municipal election, the more I wonder if my vote was counted.

The previous deputy municipal clerk has, after a thorough assessment, stated that the current fiasco was a result of bad planning, failure to have enough ballots available and failure to guarantee accurate vote tallying.

I'm not just concerned about how many people didn't get to vote. Though that was a travesty, we'll probably never know. It's not because my candidates lost or my issues defeated that I worry.

We are asking for a recertification and/or recount because we have no confidence in the behavior of the municipal clerk's office before, during and after the election. Until this mess is laid out in the open, we will have no confidence that our votes will be properly processed in future elections.

-- Maggie Johnson

Anchorage