May 11, 2021

Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor:

I just read Stephen Reeves’ article “Voting rights and the ninth commandment.” I agree with much of what he said, and I am happy to hear that issues of voter fraud are so exceptionally low. All eligible voters should be allowed to vote, and in the most convenient manner possible. However, could it be that the reason the figures are what they are is because of the voting safeguards that are already in place?

We are, after all, sinners, and so it stands to reason that the more opportunities to cheat that the public has, the more cheating there will be.

John P. Curran, in a 1790 speech upon the Right of Election of the Lord Mayor of Dublin, said, “The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance.” He was right. Increased voting access and ease must be balanced by equal assurances of the integrity of the process. To do the former without guaranteeing the latter is to invite even more civil mistrust and distress than we already have seen.

As to Reeves’ statement that “‘one person, one vote’ is the ideal that forms the bedrock of our democracy,” it should be pointed out that we do not have a democracy. We have a republic. They are two very different things. But that discussion is probably best left to another time.

Kirby D. Smith, Chesterfield, Va.