150 years ago right-minded people, people who supported Republican Abraham Lincoln, pled, fought, and prayed that the opportunity to vote might be extended to all the residents of this country. It wasn’t until 100 years later that President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act of 1965, opening the door for the end of Jim Crow laws and the obstacles that prevented Blacks and others from accessing the ballot box.

Today, fueled by the Big Lie, members of Lincoln’s party are writing and passing restrictive laws that will ultimately turn back the clock and deny people equal access to the vote. Representative Jim Clyburn of South Carolina has dubbed these efforts Jim Crow 2.0.

Sure, there are irregularities in elections; there are irregularities in any endeavor on such a scale. However, they have proven inconsequential and hardly arguments for making sweeping changes to election procedures: changes which ultimately draw large numbers of people outside of the circles of participation. Even worse, these changes are being made by disingenuous lawmakers who know better.

What a shame that the party of Lincoln, Reagan, and the Bushes is now choosing to win elections, not by persuasion, but by exclusion.

We must reject this pernicious thinking and these pernicious laws.

Mark Peterson

Ogden

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