EDITOR:
Okay folks, we’re living in an historic pandemic, right? And, the government we elected to protect our democracy should be protecting our democracy, right?
Yet who among us, in great confidence, could tell our neighbor the process to vote in this election if you live in Missouri? For example, describe the difference between absentee voting and mail-in voting. How about: which neighbor has to find a notary to sign their ballot and who doesn’t. Could age or cancer chemotherapy be a factor in their voting process in this election?
Jay Ashcroft, our Missouri Secretary of State, is responsible for ensuring our right to safe and accessible voting. He is also responsible for this mess of complication. Perhaps he’s driven by the paranoia of Kansan Chris Kobach or the man in the White House that there’s a cheating voter under every rock. Is stealing your granny’s ballot high on your to-do list this November?
Jay Ashcroft has failed you. He apparently doesn’t honor the profound responsibility of Americans to vote and make their voices heard in this democracy. He’s apparently not interested in ensuring Missourians can vote safely and that ballots are accessible to all registered voters. Perhaps he finds our own citizen ballot initiatives like Medicaid expansion and Clean Missouri annoying when we take it upon ourselves to build a better Missouri.
Let’s make voting a safe, efficient and positive experience in our state. Let’s make this election’s process the last one to be a dung pile of ‘if-thens’ and ‘but-nots.’ We’ll have to weave our way through this year’s voting maze to stop the madness.
Be persistent. Plan your vote.
There are two names on your ballot for Missouri Secretary of State: Ashcroft and a name you’re not sure you can pronounce. Don’t vote for Ashcroft. Vote for the other guy.
–LeAnn Karbaumer
Platte City
