Letter from Denise Caven

I know Ronetta Burton and Dale Christensen. I have worked with Ronetta, as a poll worker for a number of years. I have never doubted her honesty or her ability to conduct the elections in Daviess County fairly. As I said, I also know Dale Christensen.

Dale begins by telling us “Fellow Citizens” we should support poll workers and thank them for their service. He then gets to the real reason for his article, to disparage a duly elected public official and the people who will be working the polls, calling into question the legitimacy of the upcoming election.

Dale is saddened to mention he has heard through the grapevine (i.e. gossip) that ” … devoted voting officials are being criticized and even investigated for simple infractions that did not occur.” He goes on to say they are being “criticized and investigated by Ronetta Burton, County Clerk/Election Authority.” … “their integrity and character has been attacked.”

His hypocrisy is stunning. In the first part of his letter Dale defend his friends, who are devoted voting officials, whose character has been attacked and their good names tarnished. Then, in the last part of his letter Dale does exactly what he accuses Ronetta of doing. He attacks the integrity and character of Ronetta and all the election officials who work with her. While admitting he does not know Ronetta Burton he informs us he was told (more gossip) she is an inexperienced supervisor who has apparently not handled her concerns correctly.

Dale fails to tell us what actual knowledge he has of this situation other than “the grapevine”. He apparently doesn’t know if any complaints were filed by voters, if there were discrepancies in the paperwork the individuals turned into the office, or any other serious issues, but he assures us they were “simple infractions that did not occur.” Ronetta Burton didn’t simply pull names out of a hat and decide on a whim to investigate poll workers from the last election. Something occurred to cause her to investigate. I know of two incidents personally. One occurred at the polling place I worked. Ronetta received a complaint that a poll worker was rude. Because I was one of the Supervisory Judges, she asked me about the complaint. The other incident was far more serious. I was asked by a voter, from another polling place, if something that was said by a poll worker was appropriate. Not only was it not appropriate, it was a direct violation of the oath every poll worker takes on Election Day. I did not hesitate to tell Ronetta about the conversation because it was a serious problem.

The most egregious statements Dale makes are in the last paragraphs of his letter. Calling himself a patriot and a concerned citizen he offers the following baseless accusations, impugning the integrity of Ronetta and all the Daviess County election workers, including me, when he says “We hope Ronetta and/or others are not trying to remove these people and replace them with voting officials who might be persuaded to alter the outcome of this election and future elections …. I am sounding the alarm to all voters. I am raising the question ‘Why’? Is something bad beginning to happen to our local elections?”

I would like to ask the same question of Dale Christensen, “Why?”

Why engage in innuendo and gossip in order to attack Ronetta Burton and the hardworking Election Officials of Daviess County?

Why accuse all of us who work the elections of potential election fraud?

Why call into question the integrity of the upcoming election?

I also wish to sound the alarm to all voters, for it appears to me, Dale Christensen, who is behaving irresponsibly by spreading gossip and making unfounded accusations, is the bad thing that is happening and that he is the one trying to undermine the integrity of our elections.

Denise Caven
Election Supervisory Judge, Daviess County