Letters: PA must not join states seeking to disenfranchise voters; Criticism of pollinator garden misguided

PA must not join states seeking to disenfranchise voters

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed to correct voting discrimination shortly after the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery. Under Section 5 of the VRA 1965, certain jurisdictions were prohibited from making changes to voting regulations without receiving preapproval from the Attorney General or the District Court of D.C. The first states to be specifically named under Section 5 were Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Virginia; 40 North Carolina counties were also named.

Shelby County, Alabama, sued in 2011 to remove the “preapproval” requirement. In 2013 the US Supreme Court struck down the “preapproval” provisions of the Act. The Supreme Court opined that the Act was successful “at redressing racial discrimination and integrating the voting process” and noted that the U.S. has made great progress thanks to the Act. The court also opined that the country “has changed, and while any racial discrimination in voting is too much, Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions.”

The current movement by many legislatures to enact new legislation that will demonstrably disenfranchise Black voters clearly fails the “coverage formula” of Section 4b of the VRA, and clearly demonstrates that racial discrimination in voting has not been eliminated and that certain jurisdictions now seek to violate the intent of the Voting Rights Act. Please join me in contacting our legislators to tell them that Pennsylvania must not join the states who seek to disenfranchise voters under the guise of “the Big Lie.”

Criticism of pollinator garden misguided

I would like to respectfully disagree with a recently published letter titled “New garden is no help to pollinators.” In it, Mr. Maund complains that the newly constructed Pollinator and Bird Garden at The Arboretum at Penn State is a useless installation that does nothing to assist the plight of pollinators at a local level, also condemning it as a waste of funding. To clarify, the Arboretum is entirely (and generously!) donor-funded by those who feel that its resources are a valuable addition to the community. In response to the idea that a three-acre garden is useless: If the author were to consider the garden’s true purpose, he would realize his misguidance. The physical garden itself is not designed to be an overarching solution to pollinator decline, but rather a wellspring of inspiration and knowledge to visitors far and wide. Environmental pollutants are a real threat to pollinating insects, and I would like to contend that only through education will people understand these threats. What better place that a carefully planned, beautifully designed public environment with bee hotels, tens of thousands of native flowers, and researchers furthering the university’s study of pollination? As I walked through the garden yesterday, I heard visitors asking staff how they could better attract bees to their yards. Is this not the very essence of what Mr. Maund wishes to see? This magnificent garden is a free and treasured resource for the community that I, for one, and thrilled to have in State College.

Will Corman stand by Pennsylvania voters?

Attention voters of PA: The sanctity of our vote is threatened. State Senator Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin County, is abusing his position as an elected official to launch a theatrical and fraudulent investigation of our state’s 2020 presidential election. In Pennsylvania courts of law, where proof is required and where there are penalties for lying, no evidence has shown that even one vote in Pennsylvania was cast illegally. What Mastriano and other sycophants for Trump want to do is disqualify votes that all evidence shows were legitimately cast and tallied.

Even more egregious than Mastriano’s attempt to undermine our rights as citizens to a free and fair election is that Senator Jake Corman, leader of the Senate Republicans, is letting it happen. We can assume that nothing advances with the Republicans in the Pennsylvania Senate without Corman’s knowledge and tacit approval.

So the question for Senator Corman is: Do you support Mastriano’s sham audit that will cost Pennsylvania taxpayers millions of dollars — and violate Pennsylvania’s voters’ privacy? Or, Senator Corman, will you stand by the voters of Pennsylvania and accept the outcome of the 2020 presidential election? If you represent all of the people of Pennsylvania, put an end to Mastriano’s attempt to undermine our vote and our democracy.