I read your Nov. 9 editorial, "Power at the polls: The bloc vote." In it you explained how bloc voting in Hasidic communities influenced the results of this past election. This helped to explain the curious result of a Democratic challenger winning the vote for district attorney, while the Republican incumbent was re-elected as sheriff.

I thought that the editorial was informative and insightful. However, I disagree with the conclusion in the last paragraph, which states that the lesson that we can all learn is that residents of the Hasidic communities know how to use the power of the vote.

Democracy, great as it is, is not without its pitfalls. You have apparently uncovered one of them. Real democratic societies are not typified by isolated enclaves where people vote as they are told to by the group's leaders. Real democratic societies are typified by diverse communities where people may not know how their neighbors are voting unless they politely ask.

Voters who go to the polls independently with only their most thoughtful judgments to guide them do not need to learn from bloc voters in Hasidic communities. They are the true voters, and they form the foundation of a true democracy.

David Siegel
Sparkill