Voting rights must be supported
To the editor:
The John Lewis Voting Rights Act has passed the House vote. The Senate has largely been on strike, refusing to do the work of passing legislation in an apparent hissy fit (still) over losing the election last year. It is time to get over yourselves, boys. The national credit card debt of the Trump administration requires raising the debt ceiling, again. Turns out not taxing the rich, who control most of the economy, does not lead to fiscal joy; but reneging on Trump’s debts is not a realistic option.
Some white voters of the GOP have yet to embrace the new demographic reality that people who are not white now vote in commanding numbers. The assumption that none of the people you know voted for Biden is not a reason to demand yet more recounts. It might be an indication that you should expand your circle of friends beyond blood relatives. Trump lost the popular vote in both his appearances on the ballot. Every court case, recount has confirmed this. The obfuscation of that reality persists. Anti-voting laws are creeping through state legislatures. These are intended to restrict voting to white GOP loyalists.
Protecting all voters’ rights should be the minimum job requirement for a Senator. The GOP “stratagem” of exclusion is plain ugly. The difference in voter turn out with vote by mail and weekend voting is embraced by people who want democracy. The demand that people of color wait in line and then be scrutinized before being allowed to vote at all, is distasteful. Gerrymandering districts and trying to insure that your party win, not on the strength of policy, but by chicanery is wrong. Controlling an election by stifling voter access to the ballot is not a good look. Senators Rubio and Scott should stop pouting. They both need to be encouraged to get behind the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and push.
Ellen Starbird
Cape Coral