Joanne Parrent, in her letter of Oct. 21, argues that the For the People Act is “freedom to cheat” (“Protect election integrity,” Our Readers’ Views, Oct. 21). To be clear, many studies have concluded that there is no widespread fraud, Republican fever dreams based on the Big Lie notwithstanding.
Perhaps Ms. Parrent is unaware that voter ID laws, which she defends, disenfranchise millions, per the Brennan Center for Justice, because the necessary documentation is often difficult or expensive to acquire. She opposes automatic voter registration, felons who’ve served their time being restored the franchise, and taxpayer-funding matching of political donations, all of which would make voting easier, and more widespread, in elections not bought and paid for by billionaires.
The GOP isn’t even trying to hide its authoritarian intentions: 147 Republicans voted on Jan. 6 to throw out the votes of millions in two states; it replaced honest elections officials, like Republican Van Langevelde of Arizona, who rejected baseless claims of election fraud; it’s passing election oversight to partisan legislators; and Trump recently called our free election on Nov. 3 an “insurrection.” If Parrent cares about election integrity, why isn’t she writing letters about that?
