Voting: It’s pretty simple

The goal should be for all adult citizens to vote in an election with integrity. It is part of our obligations as residents of a democratic republic. A writer asked ,“If the election was so clearly won by a landslide, why the fuss over changing voting laws?” This is a legitimate question.

My answer: For starters, the 45th president did not — has not — accepted the results of the 2020 election. It was an election certified by all 50 state election officials and deemed fair by dozens of court cases and Mr. Trump’s own elections security person. The “clearly won” results were rejected by Mr. Trump and a Trumpist mob attempting to stop congressional certification of those results by attacking our nation’s Capitol.

Republican complaints about HR1 carry only an iota of credibility. “’Jim Crow?’ Really?” Yes, really! It was not hard to miss the Confederate battle flags flying amidst the Trump flags of the Capitol rioters. “Liberty and justice for all” Americans can see the connection between neo-Confederates, Jim Crow processes of voter suppression, and the current Republican moves at voter restrictions.

HR1 is not perfect. Sameday voter registration invites internet election shenanigans (if you get six months to learn to drive, can you analyze candidates and ballot propositions in a day?). But the value of

HR1 far outweighs its problematic wrinkles.

Four years ago, I called the California Secretary of State’s office and asked about cases of voter fraud in the 2016 election. The person in the office replied that, at that time, they had resolved about a dozen cases, with about a dozen more pending. Not hundreds, not thousands; dozens. Asked if President Trump’s Elections Fraud Commission had forwarded any credible evidence of fraudulent voting, the answer was ,“No .” Election fraud convictions carry heavy sentences. It doesn’t happen much.

But there is the ongoing case of a former New York City “reality” television host who has tried to steal an election — while repeatedly yelling “Stop The Steal! — unable to accept reality or acknowledge the will of a majority of American voters.

“Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices” — Volaire

“Guard against postures of pretended patriotism” — George Washington

— George Cartter/Vacaville