To the Editor:
I want to respond to Mr. Raube’s letter on July 19. In his letter he used the frequent talking point regarding forbidding water being distributed to people waiting in line to vote in Georgia.
When Major League Baseball removed the all star game from Atlanta in response to Georgia’s voting bill, I thought the legislative piece must be pretty bad.
So, I read the bill which is available online. My recollection it was about 90 pages.
It contained a lot of “legalese” regarding appointment of polling supervisors, etc.
But, you can find the provisions regarding “voter suppression” rather easily.
It is so unfortunate that the “talking heads” keep repeating the same half truth over and over again that people take that to be the absolute truth. If you read the bill, which I implore people to do, you will see that water can be provided but it must come from the poll workers. This is to insure that backers of either party can’t potentially influence a voter.
So many people are busy working, raising a family, etc. They don’t have time to actually read a legislative document. They rely on the news media. In my opinion it is a travesty that people on both sides of the political aisle are not informing the public with actual and complete fact! I’m probably romanticising, but I miss the days of Walter Cronkite, Huntley & Brinkley.
Also, if I may I would like to pose questions to those on the left.
If it is not a problem for you to bring water, snacks, floppy hat if you are waiting in line to vote on a hot day, why can’t the so called oppressed voter do the same? If it is not a problem for you to spend 58 cents for a stamp to mail in your ballot, why would that be a problem for minorities? If it is not a problem for you to show your ID at the voting booth, why can’t all people show their ID?
Surely you would never believe that they are incapable of doing those things.
Jeff Blackburn
Village of St. James