Sadly, this is not the letter I wanted to write.
When I saw the Nov. 8 News-Press article,“Biden elected president,” I was moved to write a letter congratulating the paper on your fair and accurate coverage.
Knowing that the News-Press has long supported President Trump, I was heartened by your unbiased, fact-based reporting. I felt it was an excellent example of putting truth and patriotism above opinion, and the important, almost sacred, role of the free press in our democracy.
But your Nov. 9 article, “Election remains undecided,” was appalling.
It is not true, and any opinion about this falsehood belongs on the editorial page and not the top of the front page. The News-Press now has egg on its face.
Your publishers showed themselves to be brave when they were the first newspaper in the country to endorse Mr. Trump. But now at the end of his presidency, the News-Press has disgraced itself with a shocking lack of integrity.
Joe Biden was called the winner of the election on Nov. 7, 2020, by the exact same process that called President Trump the winner of the 2016 election, the main difference being that Mr. Biden’s margin of winning was much higher than Mr. Trump’s.
The Associated Press and the major networks have called election winners for decades. Calling a winner is art as well as science, based on mathematical realities. They do not call a winner until it is obvious that the outstanding still uncounted votes could not overcome the winning margin. It is possible to make a mistake, but if they do, this is corrected as the votes continue to be counted.
This did not happen in this election, and it will not happen, because there are not enough votes still uncounted to overcome the four million voters who chose Mr. Biden over Mr. Trump. There are not enough uncounted votes in any state or combination of states to overturn the Biden win. Also, there is no proof of fraudulent voting that could overturn the Biden win.
They have been counting only legal votes all along, and it is irresponsible for the News-Press to insinuate otherwise. Any loser in an election has the right to ask for a recount if the vote is close enough, and to investigate allegations of fraud.
What the loser does not have is the right to make false allegations without any proof, with the purpose of denigrating our elections and our duly elected new president.
And no newspaper in America should be telling their readers that the election remains undecided, when the truth is that Mr. Biden has been chosen by the people to be our new president. I believe you owe your readers an apology.
What you have done is confusing and harmful to our community and disheartening to any reader who values the integrity of the press.
Anna Campbell
Santa Barbara
