Off The Editor’s Desk – 6-30-2021
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Do we need a change in voting rules?
Are you OK with the way we vote here in Wisconsin? I am, and I have no problem showing an election official my driver’s license to ID me as a registered voter in the City of Glenwood City.
I also have no problem with someone asking for an absentee ballot before Election Day, and returning it before the polls close.
I do have a problem with some states that have spread out election day into a month long event and still days after the polls close, are accepting ballots. That makes it look like someone or group is stuffing the ballot box with whoever they want to win.
Here in Wisconsin, the election procedure is not broken, so let’s not try to fix it.
A piece appearing the Daily Torch, penned by Alan Greenblatt, has this to say about the current debate over election laws:
“Is faith in U.S. democracy being eroded? Voting, the bedrock act of a democratic political system, has itself become one of the nation’s most divisive issues. Republican-controlled states are on track to pass the most laws restricting voting and registration of any year in recent history, arguing that election fraud is a serious problem that needs addressing. Democratic-led states, conversely, are expanding access, particularly to absentee voting. In Congress, Democrats proposed setting nationwide standards for registration, absentee and early voting and the redrawing of congressional districts, but the measure lacked sufficient support to pass the Senate.
“Studies show that laws designed to either restrict or expand voting have had only minimal effect on turnout. Nevertheless, both parties are using heated rhetoric, accusing the other side of changing rules to permanently entrench itself in power. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that the 2020 election was rigged against him have led many experts to worry that public faith in the U.S. election system may have been seriously undermined.”
Former President Trump keeps on with his feeling that the election of 2020 was rigged against him. I have a hard time thinking that he lost by some seven million votes and that those seven million were not legal votes. There may have been some ballots cast that were not legitimate, but not seven million.
Texas placed restrictions on voting, toughest in the nation, and they also have the lowest turnout at the polls and now the Texas Legislature, which is controlled by Republicans want to add more restrictions and this has sent Texas Democrats to the nation’s capitol to visit with Vice President Harris and members of congress for a federal voting rights law.
If the federal government gets into the picture with new voting laws, it will only put a damper on us white folks at the polls. I say that because every word coming out of the mouths, of our elected leaders is that white people have suppressed minorities for centuries and we are the bad people in this country, and any new regulation coming out of Washington will only disenfranchise us white folks.
Thanks for reading! ~Carlton