The right to vote
To the editor:
How would you feel if you heard that the time allowed for early voting was going to be reduced by more than half? Would it make you angry to think our legislators would do that without making it well known in advance? Well, that is a piece that is before them now. They are considering reducing early voting time from 14 days to six days.
Florida happens to be a state that has many seniors and others who vote early because they cannot stand for long periods of time in the lines on Election Day. The economy is making it more difficult for people who find it necessary to work or work extra and don’t always have the time on Election Day.
In the presidential election two years ago, more than half of all of the votes in Florida were cast through either absentee ballots or early voting. It’s a trend that’s only expected to increase. Now the legislators are trying to derail this voting. Is this a way of controlling who is elected? No state should pass any law that takes away or reduces a constitutional right.
After being arrested for casting an illegal vote in the presidential election of 1872, Susan B. Anthony called it “a downright mockery to talk to women of their enjoyment of the blessings of liberty, while they are denied the use of the only means of securing them … the ballot.” One hundred and forty years after her arrest we still have elected representatives looking for ways to constrict access to the ballot box.
It is time to tell our elected officials that we will oppose any action they may take that is not the will of the people who voted them into office.
Mary West
Cape Coral