From: Charles Doup
Columbus
The editorial published in the June 25th edition of The Republic advocates for mail-in balloting in this November election. The reason advanced is that we the voters will be more safe from COVID-19. And because of this virus poll workers are not volunteering in sufficient numbers to run an election.
The past primary election negates this argument. The election ran quit well in spite of the reduced numbers of voting centers. It is up to the individual voter to decide if he or she will be safe voting in person. We do not require the government to make this decision for us.
What is behind this suggestion that we switch to mail-in election? It is my opinion that it would first negate the voter ID law which has served as well to insure fair and accurate elections for the past 14 years. A fact that was ignored by the referenced editorial when it cited that studies over the last 20 years has shown a very low voter fraud rate. Perhaps the reason for this is that our elections have been decided using the voter ID law.
The Attorney General of the United States has stated in a recent interview that he believes that if America switches to mail-in voting it will lead to increased voter fraud and would undermine the validity of the elections. He stated that there would be no way to verify a ballot and mutable fraudulent ballots could be printed by any country or person with no assurance of validity.
There is currently in place a method by which a voter can receive a ballot by mail if he or she requests it, however, as noted in the editorial it may not arrive in time.
In these times of turmoil and disruption the voters of America’s last best chance to influence their government is a free and open election governed by common sense rules to insure an election free of fraud and distortion.
We must not allow fear to rule our choices.
