Media shouldn't call election until polls are closed

Dear editor:

I don't care who won, declaring the winner of a national election before all the polls are closed is wrong. The TV news announced the winner of the presidential election five minutes after the polls in California closed. There is no way they were able to count all the votes that fast.

The polls in Alaska and Hawaii were still open and wouldn't close for hours!

What does that say to the citizens of those states? Your vote doesn't matter. We don't care what you think.

The news media, especially TV news, should not be allowed to report election results until all polls are closed. It does not take away any freedom of speech. They can still report on the election. Just wait until the polls are closed and it is factual news and not projected hype.

The election news and celebration parties can start a few hours later. But please allow all citizens the dignity to vote.

If any of the countries where we are trying to promote democracy had an election and they declared the winner before the polls were closed, we would have cried foul and unfair. The media would have been up in arms about it. Why will they not give the same respect and justice to our citizens?

It is time to make a change. No election results announced by the media until the polls are closed. That means all elections.

Arline Foster