VOTING: Must be in person

The need for integrity in the upcoming election process can’t be overstated. Vote-by-mail is problematic. Will ballots automatically be sent to every address? Moreover, will they start registering all people automatically? If so, to what signature will they compare their vote? Will ballot harvesting be allowed? (Ex: Anyone can go door to door in neighborhoods, “help” people fill in their ballot as suggested, and deliver them en mass to a precinct.) Will people unduly influence the other voters in their households, making them vote under duress?

Do we remember the awesome privilege and responsibility it is to vote? We show our ID to trusted workers who look up our name in the registry. We are given a ballot to fill in privately. We return our ballot and drop it into a sealed box. A precinct worker ANNOUNCES our name as having voted. It’s a big deal.

This presidential election could potentially be determined by as few as tens of 1,000’s of votes. If the losing party believes the voting procedure was flawed, it could cause major anarchy. Even small scale fraud can turn a close election.

We can better accommodate voting in person. With so much at stake in today’s political climate, vote-by-mail leaves too many reasons to question an election’s validity. The perception of legitimacy is CRITICAL to the peaceful transfer of power, if so voted for.

Time tested voting in person is the safest way to ensure one registered person, one registered vote.

CYNTHIA MARLETTE

Coeur d’Alene