Doesn’t make sense

Just watched our esteemed governor on one of his coronavirus updates on television. Is what he said an oxymoron (something made up of contradictory or incongruous elements) or doublespeak (language used to deceive usually through concealment or misrepresentation of truth)? He made the statement that he was in favor of “no-excuse early voting” rather than “no-excuse voting by mail.” He went on to further state that there were security concerns about having voting by mail available to all.

This makes no sense to me. Perhaps it is a result of his meeting with our esteemed president the day before he reported back to us Arkansans on the update. That makes one wonder if it is an oxymoron or just doublespeak. I frequently vote early to avoid the crowds on election day. I, for the life of me, don’t understand what “no-excuse early voting” even means. If the early voting timeline is increased, why would one have to have “no excuse” even applied to it? In the past I’ve never had to have an excuse for voting early.

The governor went on to defend his stance because of the security concerns about widespread voting by mail. Since many other states—most bigger than Arkansas—have found voting by mail to work quite well, couldn’t he just call them and discuss security concerns? I’m sure any of the states that do such voting would be more than happy to allay any concerns he might have. Perhaps his recent trip to the White House bent his Arkansas logic somewhat!

JOHN EICHLER Little Rock