To the editor:

I consider myself a patriotic American who has voted in every election since the early 1950s. Having spent my childhood and adolescence under a dictatorship, voting for me is not only a duty, but it is also a privilege, or at least, it used to be.

Now, I am faced with a quandary concerning the Nov. 5 election. Without any say so on the part of the electorate, our congressional district was split, for what I assume were political reasons. Both candidates for Congress are unpalatable because of their stance on Iraq, leaving me with no real choice except for a blank space on the ballot.

The constant stream of negative ads from both parties is a huge turnoff. With all the mutual mudslinging, who is to know what the candidates really stand for? Yet, if I decide to stay home on election day, I will be excoriated for failing to participate in the democratic process, the result being that I’ll get “the-kind-of-government-I-deserve.” The thing is, how will I be able to tell the difference?

Eva Edmands,

Lawrence