"Vote-by-mail initiative should go national" Letter to the editor Ted Millar

 Last month, state Sen. Jen Metzger, D–Rosendale, introduced a bill (S8120) requiring the state Board of Elections to create a vote-by-mail election plan during emergencies, which would allow state residents to cast June 2020 ballots via U.S. mail should the current coronavirus crisis continue.

Her plan involves all eligible voters receiving and returning ballots through the mail or delivering them to designated locations — just like Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Utah, and Colorado.

 I applaud this step, and called my state senator, James Skoufis, R-Cornwall, to urge him to sign on to Sen. Metzger's bill. The staffer I spoke with said he has.

Yet we should not institute this reform merely in times of societal disruption such as what we experience today, but use this opportunity to incorporate a nationwide vote-by-mail system.

Already, U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon and U.S. Senate counterpart Ron Wyden have introduced “The Resilient Elections During Quarantines and Natural Disasters Act of 2020,” intending to replicate nationwide what their state has practiced since being passed into law in 1998.

 Rep. Antonio Delgado, D-Rhinebeck, should co-sponsor this bill.

In a nation with embarrassingly low voter turnout, being ordered to stay home threatens the nomination process, not to mention the general election.

It's time to vote through paper ballots by mail.

"Another day" Letter to the editor Tom Denton

Another Day

In one of the most popular sci-fi films ever, the 1951 The Day the Earth Stood Still, the outer space alien Klaatu, after landing in Washington D.C.,  demonstrates his overwhelming power by causing all cars, trains, clocks—seemingly everything mechanical that moves—to shut down, temporarily, across the planet.  His warning:  if nations didn’t stop their destructive march to nuclear conflagration and interplanetary pollution, Earth would be destroyed.  The film ends with assembled world leaders seemingly ready to negotiate a peace.

Transpose this cinematic scenario to the current moment.  Imagine that the leader of the US calculates a political advantage: far from humbled, he seeks to divide.  He rouses his most rabid followers, who see in this threat to humanity a sinister internal plot to undermine the economic supremacy of America.  “Liberate us from the fake invaders!  Attack!” the president cries, ignoring the pleas of leaders, in the US and abroad.   The soldiers surrounding the spaceship have already been rendered powerless by the menacing robot Gort.  The rebels, carrying their assault weapons and wearing the emblems of fealty to their leader, converge and fire on Klaatu as he attempts to depart. 

Klaatu and his people from a distant galaxy have no special feelings for the human race.  It is simply an irritant—more, a menace to peaceful beings.  However, the actions of this inexplicably foolish leader demand a forceful response.  Perhaps one that doesn’t incinerate all life on Earth but would allow other benign species to flourish . . . one that completes the task not with a fiery blast but a silent, slow, efficiency…

Publishing history:

River Reporter  4/21

Hudson Valley One 4/22

Sullivan Democrat  4/23

"Support vote by mail in New York" Letter to the editor Tom Denton

Support Vote by Mail in New York

Fair-minded people of both political parties acknowledge that as COVID-19 bears down upon us, we must plan alternatives to in-person voting in November’s elections.  A repeat of Wisconsin’s debacle, with dedicated, masked citizens risking their health to exercise their most fundamental right, has been likened to the courage of Americans who risked personal safety to protest racial discrimination in the 60’s.  Many will be willing to take that kind of risk in November.  But we can do more and better, at least in New York.

Senator Jen Metzger (D-Rosendale) has submitted a bill, S8120, that calls for immediate planning to provide Vote by Mail (VBM) to New Yorkers in November (it’s too late to implement for June 23 primary elections).  VBM eliminates the cumbersome process tied to absentee ballots, in which one must request an absentee ballot application, which is returned by the Board of Elections; the completed application is returned to the BOE; the BOE sends an absentee ballot; once voters receive it, they complete and return to the BOE.  With VBM the BOE sends a ballot to all registered voters; they fill out the ballot and return it to the BOE for counting.  Done.  Voting at polling sites will still be an option.

Yes, there are challenges.  Security measures must be in place.  Funding must be available to pay for new workers and post office charges.  States that have implemented VBM have offered careful advice about how to proceed. 

Perhaps above all, a massive public education effort is needed, starting now.  Whether VBM or “temporary illness” absentee voting is ultimately implemented, voters need to know what to expect, long in advance of November.  That effort will require money, staffing, and the use of all available tools for outreach.  We shouldn’t have to be heroes to vote.  Heroism will come from institutional support for our democratic system.

Publishing history:

Daily Freeman          4/22/20 

Sullivan Democrat    4/23/20

Hudson Valley 360

"Health Care after COVID19" Letter to the editor Tom Denton

Health Care after COVID19

The fall Democratic primary campaign was consumed by debate about health care, and specifically, Medicare for All.  With the onslaught of COVID19, that debate has raised new questions.  The weaknesses of the American system of health insurance tied to employment are vividly exposed.  17 million Americans, and counting, have applied for unemployment benefit relief, but how many of them will lose the health insurance offered by their employers?  How many, in these circumstances, can afford the cost of COBRA, which allows them to buy into their plan for 18 months at full premium cost?  How many will qualify for Medicaid, whose requirements vary widely in different states, and how many of them live in one of the 14 states that did not expand Medicaid eligibility and benefits as part of the Affordable Care Act?  The answers for millions will be, Out of Luck.

Opponents of Medicare for All claim that most Americans like the health insurance they currently get from their employers.  Of what use is that insurance when either financial and market collapse or catastrophic viruses wipe out jobs, industries, governments?

Maybe America, staring at the prospects of future pandemics, might use this moment to separate health care from employment and find a new path forward, whether through single payer or hybrid systems of public and private insurance.  The bottom line will be this:   how many of us, after this pandemic subsides, will demand that the country act on the proposition that health care for all residents is a human right? 

Publishing history:

Shawangunk Journal, 

New Paltz Times    4/16/20

Times Herald-Record     4/13/20