It is gratifying that The Durango Herald endorsed our excellent state representative, Barbara McLachlan. This makes the endorsement of Pam Anderson over Jena Griswold all the more mystifying.

How anyone could endorse a member of the current Republican Party to fill the position of secretary of state is completely baffling. This is the party that has made no bones about the fact that it wants to limit access to the polls and are running secretary of state candidates all over the country who openly admit that they would not have certified the last presidential election. large portion of current GOP candidates openly state that they are election deniers.

The Herald did a fine job in the editorial of listing all of the ways that Griswold has served our state with integrity, especially in expanding access to the vote and dealing with Tina Peters.

During the pandemic, Griswold was at the forefront of efforts to expand mail-in voting in states throughout the country so that citizens could vote safely.

It is hard to believe that the editorial staff of this newspaper would be willing to replace this excellent public servant with a member of a political party that has become a Trumpist cult with the sole intention of retaining power at any cost, including the disregard of the will of the voters. I certainly hope that voters will have more sense than the editorial board of this newspaper and return Griswold to office.

Lee Stopher

Pagosa Springs