Voting and Voter Suppression - My Letter to the Edito

 I recently sent this letter about voter suppression to the editor of the Youngstown Vindicator:


You, person who is reading this? Did you know that potentially millions of people in the US won't be able to vote this presidential election? Most of these will be Democrats. Will you be one of them? 

When Republicans won the state governorship and House and Senate in Ohio and a significant number of other states, one of the first things they did was to try and make it more difficult for some people to vote. Under the false pretense that they were trying to eliminate "voter fraud" (which is extremely rare), Republicans tried to pass laws that would make everyone who wanted to vote have certain types of ID.

The problem is that a large (enough) number of people don't have the required documents to get these types of ID's. The poor and elderly - many of whom have voted their whole lives with no problem up until now - were told they'd have to pay for such documentation (state "approved" birth certificates) and they could only get the documentation at certain places.

Incidentally, the great majority of voters who would be affected tend to vote Democrat.

Republicans also have tried to pass measures that would greatly reduce early voting. Who tends to vote early? You guessed it. Democrats.

Don't be discouraged. In Ohio, you just need your drivers license, and, if the address on your license isn't current, a current utility bill or something showing your current address.

I voted early and all I needed was the last 4 digits of my Social Security number. It was very easy and now I don't have to worry about long lines on election day.

Check your county Board of Elections for more information, and whoever you vote for, get out and vote!