The Big Lie and election integrity: Letters to the editor, May 16, 2021

County voter rolls not a problem

Voter confidence involves addressing two issues.

First, the lies. The lies that Joe Biden didn’t win the election, dead people voted, undocumented persons voted, people voted twice and voter fraud is rampant. In fact, studies have shown that voter fraud is virtually nonexistent.

Second, voter suppression. Efforts have been made by states to remove eligible voters from the voter rolls. Some states require an ID and make it difficult for some segments to acquire such ID. States have reduced days for early voting, reduced polling site hours and made it difficult to vote by mail.

If we are serious about rebuilding trust in our electoral system, the solution is simple: Stop the lies, and stop voter suppression.

A door-to-door verification of voter registration at a cost of up to $4 million? Seriously? What would we gain from such an effort? The peace of mind of wasting government funds?

With the myriad of problems in Fresno County that are going unaddressed or are being insufficiently remedied, why would the Board of Supervisors even toy with the idea of wasting taxpayer dollars in this manner?

Stop the big lie, end the nonsense

I’m disappointed to hear the Big Lie came to Fresno. It’s astounding to see the falsehood created by the former president, to promote the Big Lie that the election was fraudulent, continues to be advanced by his followers. The election is over! Fifty state Republican and Democrat election commissioners said the election was fair, and there was no evidence of fraud that altered the outcome of the election. The courts turned down more than 50 legal challenges to the election outcome. 

Yet we have citizens who are still saying they believe the fiction of the election was fraudulent. We have a county supervisor promoting the notion of needing to verify our local election wasn’t fraudulent. Enough of this insanity! Stop the madness. Leaders need to speak the truth.

Leaders who promote the Big Lie use it to rouse their base and drive their fundraising. The leaders promoting the Big Lie know it is false, and the election was fair. If you believe the Big Lie, they are using you. Accept the facts.

Let’s get on with the opportunity we now have for sound governance of our country, based on truth. 

No election fraud, so stop the lie

Well, it seems as if “The Big Lie” is alive and well in Fresno County. The Board of Supervisors is apparently considering paying up to $4 million in taxpayer money to “clean the voter rolls.” It seems that even months after the election our local politicians feel that there was some sort of skullduggery afoot in our vote counting process.

The Fresno County Registrar of Voters, James Kus, informed the members of the board that there was no evidence of anyone rigging the election in Fresno County. Further, he suggested that the county could hire a company to go through our voter rolls to clear out duplicate registrations for about $60,000. So why are we considering spending several million dollars to purge names from our voter rolls?

Unfortunately, there are people out there who still believe the Trump myth of widespread voter fraud, although he has never produced one shred of credible evidence, let alone facts, to prove it. After more than 60 court cases and several states recounting their votes (Georgia recounted theirs three times) no fraud was found. Therefore, it’s time to give up on “The Big Lie” and save our tax dollars.

Cut taxes and government dependency

I was reading Dan Walters’ op-ed in the Fresno Bee on May 3. I noticed a tidbit of information that has a bearing on President Biden’s tax-and-spend proposals. Mr. Walters cites data that shows the top 1% of taxpayers in California pay 50% of the state’s income tax revenues. I’ve read previously, from other sources, that approximately the same ratio applies to federal income taxes.

If true, what is all this blathering about the “rich” paying their “fair share.” Apparently, the bottom 99% aren’t paying their “fair share.” It seems these big government charlatans will not be happy until they have confiscated, under the threat of imprisonment, all of the wealth of the productive sectors of society.

In my view the government is way too big now and not one more penny of tax should be collected from anyone for any reason. This country was not founded on the basis of government dependency, and the population should resist every effort to make it more dependent on government.

Recall, and its cost, are unfair

I see that California’s recall election could cost up to $400 million, and that this expense was triggered by 1,626,042 California voters’ signatures. Did these individuals make a donation of $245 each to pay for it? Or did they just expect the government to do so?

 What about the 7,721,410 Californians who voted for Gavin Newsom? I guess they are expected to foot the bill. This is unfair.

The San Joaquin Valley knows the hardship of blackouts all too well. Such occasions have greater impacts in low-income, hardworking communities. Thinking back on the fires and blackouts of the past year, it’s clear that not only do we need to invest in clean energy, but we also need to improve the very infrastructure that delivers our electricity. 

Blackouts disproportionately impact our state’s low-income families, for whom something like losing a fridge and a freezer full of groceries may be felt for months after. 

California’s clean energy sector generates enough electricity to power 6.9 million homes, avoiding more than 15 million metric tons of CO2 emissions per year. This has huge implications for all of us, but especially for low-income communities of color in the Valley who often face higher exposure to air pollution. 

California has done an excellent job of establishing visionary climate goals, but we still have more work to do to shore up our energy infrastructure. We need to ensure continuous clean power to the people to not only avoid economic impacting scenarios that can undermine a working family’s delicate financial stability but to empower community. Clean energy and climate resilience should be synonymous with environmental and economic justice.

This story was originally published May 16, 2021 at 6:00 AM with the headline "The Big Lie and election integrity: Letters to the editor, May 16, 2021."