Letters: Mail-in voting in danger; Past time for Black woman SCOTUS nominee
Mail-in voting in danger
Two years ago Pennsylvania passed Act 77, which opened up mail-in voting to anyone. With this law Pennsylvania joined other states using universal mail-in voting with no problems and no fraud.
At the time, then-Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman called the law “the most significant modernization of our elections code in decades.”
Easy mail-in voting proved wildly popular, perhaps even a lifesaver during the 2020 Election before a coronavirus vaccine was available. In fact, approximately 30% of Pennsylvania voters have now used mail-in ballots leading to extraordinarily high voting percentages.
It seemed government finally did something for the people and for our democracy by expanding voting and making it easier for more people.
What? Expanding voting? Making it easier to vote? Republicans just can’t stand that. So Republican legislators, including many who voted for the original bill, sued to overturn Act 77 — and the Commonwealth Court of PA struck down Act 77 on party lines. The case now goes to the Supreme Court, which will have the last say. Stay tuned.
As for Jake Corman who somehow thinks he should be governor? He’s now flip-flopped from just two years ago. He praised the Commonwealth Court’s decision saying he had “no confidence in mail ballots” without offering a single reason.
It’s easy to fix a bill and smooth out the rough edges. It happens all the time. But that’s not what Republicans want. They want to kill mail-in voting. If that happens voters should remember which party is the guilty party.
Past time for Black woman SCOTUS nominee
From the establishment of the Constitution in 1789 until 1916, 127 years, there was the implied promise from Presidents that no Jewish man would be appointed to the Supreme Court, until Louis Brandeis was. From 1789 until 1967, 178 years, there was the implied promise from Presidents that no Black man would be appointed to the Supreme Court, until Thurgood Marshall was. From 1789 until 1981, 192 years, there was the implied promise from Presidents that no woman would be appointed to the Supreme Court, until Sandra Day O’Connor was. Out of all the 115 Supreme Court Justices, 108 have been white men — tell me again who has been favored? Now there is great gnashing of teeth by bigots that President Biden has the temerity to promise the appointment of a Black woman to the Supreme Court, when the implied promise for so long was that only white, Christian men would be appointed. Did these same people, who now criticize, get upset when Ronald Reagan made a campaign promise to appoint a woman to the Court — I don’t think they did! This is a spurious argument — it’s all false. President Biden has pledged to make the Court be more representative of the country — that is always a good thing.
No excuse for infrastructure bill opposition
I was appalled by Congressman Keller’s comments on the collapsed bridge and his reasons for not voting for the infrastructure bill.
The bill was not perfect — it funded things that Congressman Keller did not approve of. So, he voted against it.
Because the bridges would patiently wait until he got a perfect clean bill.
Alas, perfection is only possible in world without deadlines. And bridges on the edge of collapse mean an urgent deadline. Congressman Keller and his fellow GOP members had a chance to create such a clean bill under a Republican President. They didn’t. The bridges kept getting closer and closer to their collapse and Keller and the GOP did nothing about it.
Now someone else did it. With flaws (which are unavoidable because getting the desired votes means giving something away) but it got done. Too late for the Pittsburgh bridge, but fortunately not too late for a lot of other bridges.
I do not know how others will vote but as for me, I am ready to fire Keller and give his job to someone who understand what the word “deadline” means.
This story was originally published February 6, 2022 at 5:00 AM.