From: James D. Kubal
Nashville
A lot of letters have been written lately about the benefits or harm of the proposed federal legislation protecting voting rights entitled the “For the People Act.” One way to make your own mind about the “For the People Act” is to look at an independent review on politifact.com.
Perhaps it is time to take a look at why this all got started.
Our previous president’s claims of widespread voter fraud as a deciding force in the 2020 election were generally unsubstantiated.
Legal challenges claiming widespread fraud were generally dismissed and the consensus among academics and election experts is that election fraud exists, but at marginal levels.
The level of voter fraud in the 2020 election is not believed to be high enough to change the outcome of that election, but that may or may not be the case for future elections.
Nonetheless, the Republicans in 43 states recently proposed over 250 laws that they say would prevent future voter fraud. Early and absentee voting were what they proposed be cut, but they went far beyond that. For example, they put limits on drop boxes, moved the closing time on election day to 5 p.m. and required additional ID to vote.
Since Democrats more often vote early or absentee vote, they saw these proposals as an attack on democratic voters and some of them as too extreme. The Democrats came back with H.R. 1, which mandated national early voting and absentee voting, but Republicans saw this bill as too extreme as it permitted registration without identification by someone just swearing under oath under penalty of perjury.
Republicans saw this as a Democrat attempt to register the undocumented. Another part of H.R. 1 permits convicted felons to vote after they serve their time, something Republicans felt was unfair, as well as online registration, again Republicans felt permitting undocumented to register.
It seems to me both sides want the same thing here: secure elections that don’t discriminate, and allow as many as possible to participate.
How about if we allow H.R. 1 to come to the floor of the Senate and both sides agree to compromise.
The Democrats agree to drop some of the items that the Republicans object to and the Republicans agree to drop some items that have nothing to do with fraud, while still promoting voter turnout in a safe manner.
After all, Indiana has early voting, absentee voting and online registration — and has for years. We do it and promote turnout while we have minimal complaints of fraud. No reason why the nation can’t get together on this, for the good of the country. If you agree, let your senator know.
