Voting in sunny Florida

To the editor:

As a long-time former resident of Southeast Missouri and now a resident of Bonita Springs, Fla., I must offer a my reflection on Heidi Hall's column about life in Florida. She may be right about life the St. Petersburg area, but the Gulf Coast area of Southwest Florida has the warmth and charm one finds in the weather here on a beautiful sunny October day.

I expect the election in Florida next week to be one of the most closely watched elections in the history of the United States. Voting has already been going on for over a week, and there do not seem to be major problems with the new electronic touch screens. The management of the vote in the presidential election of 2000 and the importance of Florida in the 2004 election have not been lost on either political party. Both the Democratic and Republican parties have assembled a significant number of lawyers to respond to voting problems Tuesday.

People down here are not worried about their vote. Many of them are orginally from Chicago.

PETER J. BERGERSON, Bonita Springs, Fla.