Letters to the Editor — July 17

SAVE Act would bring chaos to elections

To the Editor:

The Republican’s proposed SAVE Act would require new procedures in place, the equipping and training immediately enacted. Not possible. The current system took decades to perfect. Many states would probably have to create a complete and separate redundant system from scratch. The cost alone would be astronomical.

And then as if that wasn’t nuts, the SAVE Act would allow anybody to sue if they feel the election official “improperly” did their job. That is chaos. Increased hostility is already a factor in the high turnover of election work — 39% in 2022.

Folks need to know that regular driver’s licenses, REAL IDs, military IDs, and tribal IDs alone would not do! Today virtually every American, including people who have been registered for decades, currently use online, mail or DMV to update registration. That would be upended or eliminated altogether. Mail registration would end entirely. You would need to appear in person at an election office with qualifying documents such as a passport, or birth certificate with only government-issued photo ID that can show citizenship.

OK, if voting by noncitizens or dead people was an issue I would agree let’s look at this. But it’s a non-issue. The GOP likes to give the example of North Carolina October 2014. The State Board of Elections conducted a voter roll audit of the 4.8 million registered voters. Of the approximately 3 million persons that voted , a mere 11 ballots were rejected for apparent noncitizen status. Eleven! Or Utah surveyed 2 million registered voters. They found one confirmed instance of noncitizen registration. Please fact check this.

Registering to vote if you are not a citizen risks incarceration and significant fines. It’s spelt out by your signature. A noncitizen would be deported and permanently barred from reentry. And you would take this risk for a vote?

Jean Duckett

South Salem

Constituent says he was snubbed by Lawler

To the Editor:

In early June, I and a dozen other scientists travelled to Washington for a “Hill Day” to visit our respective House and Senate representatives to seek their support for science, as well as to ask for their help in stopping the present administration’s plan to insert political appointees into the scientific funding review process.  

If this happens as proposed, those political appointees will be free to replace scientific merit as a criterion for research funding with political biases and favoritism. 

While we productively met with the legislative staff at Sens. Gillibrand and Schumer’s offices, the D.C. office of my Congressman (Mike Lawler) never responded in any way to my requests in advance, via the web and by phone, for a meeting with him and/or his staff. As a result of Mike Lawler’s unresponsiveness, our group was unable to meet with anyone from his office. 

We need to replace Mike Lawler with someone who will listen to their constituents, whether it is about something they agree with or not! I recommend everyone in Congressional District 17 vote for a candidate who will better listen to and respond to our needs: Cait Conley.

George D. Thurston

Waccabuc