Letter to the editor: Depriving citizens of right to vote

In 2016, President Trump said the elections were rigged. He was right. All intelligence agencies and investigations confirmed that Russia interfered with the elections. Russian bots infiltrated social media with conspiracy theories. Helping to rig the elections were conspiracy theorists who continued with their own outlandish theories. Trump invited Russia to interfere, and they did. The most troubling outcome is that too many people believed the conspiracies.

In 2013, the Supreme Court struck down section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Chief Justice John Roberts said “on the basis that our country has changed, and that blanket federal protection wasn’t needed to stop discrimination.” How naive!

Since then, GOP states have made a conscientious effort to purge legitimate voters from voter registration, cut voting hours, end same-day registration, limit early voting, close voting sites in minority neighborhoods, obstruct Native American votes, make it more difficult for college students to vote, etc. Now, they are discrediting the Post Office and mail-in ballots. This includes the GOP’s extreme gerrymandering in their favor that undermines a fair election.

You cannot be for the Constitution and turn around and deprive citizens of their right to vote because you think they won’t vote for you. If you have to cheat by depriving people their vote, you don’t deserve to serve.

Edna Martorell

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