ELECTION: No room for Independents

I am a 72-year-old lady who has voted in every election since I legally became able to. I have never missed voting in any election, state or federal.

I recently received a form that was to be mailed in to the election committee for an absentee ballot.

On the form, there was a section that requested information as to what political party I belong to. I have recently become disillusioned with the constant bickering and nonsense of both political parties, so I thought if I requested a ballot for an Independent voter, I would be given the opportunity to vote for either party, or in other words, for the best person for the job. Declaring that I am an Independent voter should send a message to them that I am not happy with either party.

Imagine my surprise and shock when I received my absentee ballot and there were no candidates listed whatsoever except for judges.

Yes, that is right folks, if you send for an absentee ballot and mark Independent on the form, you will be excluded from voting for anyone other than judges. I have been eliminated from the voting public now.

I feel tricked and taken advantage of. If declaring yourself as an Independent exempts a person from voting for candidates other than judges, the voting public should know about it when they send for their absentee ballots. I don’t know what the Republican ballot or the Democratic ballot would be, but why are voters being singled out and not allowed to vote if they are Independents and don’t want to vote strictly for one party?

Our state is No. 1 in the nation for being red. Are the politicians of this party so afraid of the minority parties that they have rigged it so that we can’t vote for anyone but them?

I consider it both unconstitutional and just plain wrong to lose my vote because no one told me what would happen if I applied for an absentee ballot.

BILLIE S. LEONARD

Rathdrum