I am asking liberals to join conservatives to secure our rights against the excesses of the far left that have taken over the reins of the Democrat party. We may differ in how big government should be, but we should join forces in defending states’ rights and free speech, for example.

In a response to the letter from March 1 titled “For the People Act deserves support,” hidden in hundreds and hundreds of pages are, for example, three ways how the proposed legislation would undermine election integrity and drastically shift power over elections away from states like Colorado to the bureaucrats in the federal government.

1) Eliminating voter ID provisions

The act dictates that a state “may not require an individual to provide any form of identification as a condition of obtaining an absentee ballot.” This loosens, not secures, the integrity of our elections.

Liberals and conservatives can agree that it should be as easy as possible to have eligible voters participate in our elections. On the flip side, people not allowed to vote should not have access to a ballot.

The act, however, would prohibit states from taking any such measure to secure their elections. Gallup found in 2016 that 80% of Americans support requiring all voters to provide photo identification in order to cast a ballot. This act ignores the wishes of the people.

2) Federal control over Redistricting

In addition to subverting states’ abilities to determine their own election laws, the For The People Act seeks to assert control over determining Congressional districts. Under the elusive claim of “fighting racism,” the legislation forces states to appoint “independent redistricting commissions” that ensure “diversity” with respect to “racial, ethnic and language minorities,” basically telling the states how to operate redistricting.

3) Paving ground for D.C. statehood, a “federal city”

Democratic politicians, including President Joe Biden, broadly support granting statehood to the nation’s capital city, as it would all but certainly grant two more Senate seats to the Democratic caucus. The For The People Act seeks to lay groundwork for such an endeavor.

The existence of a “federal city” is meant to stop any one state from inhibiting the function of the national government. A 2019 Gallup poll shows that 64% of Americans oppose granting statehood to Washington, D.C. Again, the act ignores the wishes of the people.

Juergen Kuhmann

Steamboat Springs