Letters to the Editor: What are GOP politicians afraid of?
A felony for helping citizens
get their voting ballot –why?
Re: Jan. 15 article, "Texas wants review of Travis County absentee ballot requests rejected under state's new voting law."
I am wondering what the intent of our Republican-led politicians was when they made it a felony for county clerks to help those requesting a mail-in ballot by denying those clerks the ability to tell applicants to just write in both their driver's license and last four digits of their Social Security numbers if they could not remember which they had previously used, thereby preventing the application from being tossed out.
The form is a bit confusing. Intentionally so?
A felony, though? For doing one's job of helping citizens get their voting ballot. Isn't that what a democracy is — people having the right to vote?
Why would anyone or group want to make that so difficult? What are they afraid of?
Gael Simons, Austin
Case for children in schools is
valid, unless the virus is surging
Re: Jan. 15 commentary, "Don’t negotiate with teachers who walk out over COVID. Fire them."
Marc Thiessen's commentary on teachers and COVID was not well thought out. Teachers are well educated professionals. Why should they be treated as though they were widgets?
And after we fire those who are willing to teach virtually, but not in person, where do you go to find a replacement? Teachers don't grow on trees.
The argument that children "need" to be in school is valid, unless the COVID virus is spiking as it is in Chicago. Trust the union and parents to come up with a solution. Of course, if all adults were vaccinated, the virus would be less prevalent.
Helen Carvell, Austin
Trust in our voting system would
improve if the rules were uniform
From looking at the text of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act, I don't understand why these are bills John Carter, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz would not want to pass.
Uniform measures across all states would greatly improve our most important rights as a democratic republic. How can we say we stand for democracy when we choose instead to make it difficult for citizens to vote? All Americans regardless of political affiliation or lack thereof deserve the same protected right to vote.
The confidence Americans would have in the voting system would improve exponentially if the rules were uniform throughout the U.S. I implore our representatives in Congress not to toe the party line on this.
The party line has gone ridiculously askew in the name of someone who wants everyone to kowtow to their every whim. Texans deserve better. We can be better.
Amy Kane, Cedar Park
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin American-Statesman Letters to the Editor: Jan. 20, 2022
