Letter writers tackle ranked choice voting, Palestinian solidarity, and limited access to meds
Yes to ranked-choice voting
I read with interest Secretary of State Steve Hobbs’ column about ranked-choice voting (RCV). Yes, Washington is an outstanding example of well-run elections. I commend the work of election officials and have been proud of the state during the recent hoopla about “election fraud.”
But I differ on what RCV has to offer. I believe that extreme partisanship is destroying us. In our current zero-sum game, a congressperson can lose their job for cooperating with the other side and politicians run on increasingly extreme platforms in order to win.
With RCV, a candidate must appeal to a range of voters because if they aren’t the voter’s first choice, they can still benefit by being their second choice.
RCV also makes it possible for a third-party candidate to run without being a spoiler.
Mr. Hobbs cites problems for minorities but doesn’t say why. I wonder how good the outreach was to those communities. And if a voter chooses to vote for only one candidate in RCV, it’s just fine, whatever the cause. For those who chose to rank candidates, the chances improve that they will be somewhat satisfied with the winner.
Yes, it will be a heavy lift to change, requiring a lot of work, outreach and funding. But if it’s better for the country, why wouldn’t we? Alaska and other states have managed it. Australia has used it for over a century. I have complete confidence that Washington can do it well.
Chris Hempleman, Olympia
Time for Congress to take action on pharmacy benefit managers
As a caretaker to my aging parents, I worry about the lack of access to prescription medications. I was hopeful that Congress would pass legislation to reform the harmful Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) practices contributing to these problems last year, but lawmakers failed to act.
Given how harmful these PBM practices are to patients, that is a real shame. I hope that lawmakers from both parties can come together to pass much-needed PBM reform that improves access and reduces high out-of-pocket prescription costs this year.
PBMs dictate exactly where and when patients can access the critical medications, therapies, and treatments that they have been prescribed by their doctors. With my father battling prostate cancer, these kinds of delays and interruptions in care can pose a particularly dangerous threat.
Lawmakers in the other Washington should work together to pass PBM reform. Patients like my parents deserve a solution to this problem now, not later.
Timothy Krumland, Olympia
Palestine solidarity is not anti-semitic
In an opinion piece, David Mastio made the outrageous claim that faculty that support student encampments in solidarity with Palestine are antisemitic. Leaving aside the flimsy evidence he provides to accuse student demonstrators of being the same, the base of his claim is that he discovered some faculty at these schools have provided donations to Congressional Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from Minnesota and Michigan.
In an unoriginal and tiresome trope, Mr. Mastio equates any critic of the Israeli Occupation as an antisemitic bigot. These protests are about stopping the wholesale slaughter of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza strip. Anyone that has a heart and eyes and ears to see can see that the bombing, shooting, and starving of civilians is wrong. That is why these protests are spreading.
Of course, Mr. Mastio is unable or unwilling to see it this way. Further, he seems unwilling to recognize the thousands of Jewish students and faculty that are participating in these actions. It’s a major hole in his reasoning.
It’s possible to oppose Hamas and also the Israeli Defense Force’s indiscriminate killing of Palestinians. Mr. Mastio would do well to talk to a growing number of families of the Israeli hostages that are calling for Prime Minister Netanyahu to sign the ceasefire with Hamas to ensure their loved ones are returned to them. I certainly hope he would not accuse them of being Hamas supporters or antisemites. But then he might have to face reality.
Alessandro Tinonga, Olympia
