Letter to the Editor: Act would help those in military to vote

To the Editor,

You recently featured an article about veterans and their stories. I am incredibly grateful for these men and women, and for their service, especially considering how many veterans we proportionally have in West Virginia!

And I am passionate about seeing them participate in the rights they risk their lives to defend. That’s why I’m passionate about the Freedom To Vote Act.

The Freedom To Vote Act is federal legislation that will help make it easier for service members all over the country and the world to fulfill their civic duties and vote. It institutes federal minimum standards on voting by mail and voter drop boxes to ensure all voters can have easy access to request a mail-in ballot. This is especially important to members serving overseas, where mail can often take up to two extra weeks to reach its intended recipient.

This bill also expands voting access protections to the disabled, indigenous people, military overseas voters, and underserved communities. This is especially important for small rural communities that are incredibly common in states like West Virginia. These underserved communities are home to lots of military families. They deserve the same opportunities to participate in our democracy that they fight so hard to defend.

If you believe, as I do, that these families deserve the opportunities they fight for, please join me in urging Senator Manchin and Senator Capito to pass this existential bill.

We must do whatever it takes to make the Freedom To Vote Act law.

Thank you,

Elizabeth Steelman

Morgantown, W.Va.

This article originally appeared on Mineral Daily News-Tribune: Letter to the Editor: Act would help those in military to vote