Letter to the Editor - Vote absentee this October

Editor,

“We are making this so convenient.” Hill County Commissioner Diane McLean regarding voting, 8/13/2020

No, you’re not. You’re making it exceedingly difficult, expensive and dangerous.

“Over the past 20 years, more than 250 million ballots have been cast by mail nationwide, while there have been just 143 criminal convictions for election fraud related to mail ballots. That averages out to about one case per state every six or seven years, or a fraud rate of 0.00006 percent. There is no evidence that mail-balloting results in rampant voter fraud, nor that election officials lack the knowledge about how to protect against abuses,” MIT Data and Science Lab.

Voting should be convenient. Election Day is not a national holiday. It’s a Tuesday, and folks work on Tuesdays. So, citizens, Commissioners McLean and Peterson have given you an ultimatum: Find time in your day to stand in line, or just don’t vote.

  Thankfully, there is a third option which the two Hill County Commissioners cannot suppress. Montana is a no-excuse absentee ballot state. If you want to vote by mail, you can. Simply fill out an Application for Absentee Ballot and return it to your county election office. If you do vote by mail, return your ballot well in advance of Election Day. Ballot tracking is available — http://iwillvote.com — so you can confirm the date the election office receives your ballot and if it is accepted. If you are not currently registered to vote, you can still register and vote in the general election by late registering at your county election office.

Commissioner Mike Wendland, Hill County Clerk and Recorder Sue Armstrong and Hill County Deputy Election Administrator Kaci Hipple were advocating for safe, secure and convenient voting for Hill County. With no extended comment period, Commissioners McLean and Peterson placed the opinions of a select few over the insights of the election administrators and the facts about mail-in voting. Their myth-based votes should serve to remind us that the arc of the moral universe does not bend towards justice on its own. So, this election, force it to bend. Register to vote, request an absentee ballot, and return your ballot early.

Ty Hedalen

Billings